By Shayne Storey, Implementation Specialist at Companion Protect
It’s Volunteer Appreciation Week!
Volunteers play an integral role in society. They are often the backbone of an organization; giving their time and talents selflessly, tucking away outside stress while they focus on helping others. They also give far more than they ever take. Volunteers are the most valuable currency to an organization there is.
At Companion Protect, we frequently work alongside volunteers in the animal sheltering/rescue community whose organizations are offering our pet insurance, and/or are utilizing our shelter management software (Companion Connect) to better track and manage their workflow. We truly recognize the impact these volunteers have on both the humans and—especially—animals they serve. We can probably speak for our shelter partners when we say that without the help of volunteers, shelters would not have the ability to impact their communities and animals in the way they do.
In honor of Volunteer Appreciation Month/Week, we reached out to our animal shelter partners to nominate one of their volunteers who altruistically gives to help pets in need. We hope you’ll join us in giving a virtual round of applause to these seven amazing shelter volunteers.
Submitted by Great Plains SPCA of Kansas City; Honoring Volunteer, Katherine Kashka:
“Katherine has been volunteering at GPSPCA since 2017. Since that time Katherine has done so much for our organization, racking up nearly 500 hours by walking dogs, writing biographies for the website and helping manage the biography writing team, helping with adoption meet and greets, taking dogs to events, and even fostering!
Katherine’s biggest help to the organization is working with our dogs as part of the FAST (Friend, Advocate, Socialize, and Train) team to help advocate and socialize our harder to adopt behavior dogs. She has been instrumental in the success of many of our harder to adopt pets and we truly appreciate everything she does for our organization!”
Submitted by The Rescue Project of Greater Kansas City; Honoring Director of Operations, Mae Spencer:
“Mae has the biggest heart when it comes to animals. She truly does it all with The Rescue Project. Something special about Mae is she is always willing to go the extra mile for anyone. I know if there is ever an emergency, Mae will drop what she is doing to help.
We have had several medical emergencies with some of our foster animals and she will stay up all night to ensure everything is okay and taken care of. She has fostered 67 animals since joining the rescue 2 years ago! We need more people like Mae in animal rescue.”
Submitted by Intermountain Humane Society and Animal Shelter of Colorado; Honoring Volunteer & Foster, Meagan Crump:
“Meagan has been volunteering for Intermountain Humane Society and Animal Shelter in Pine, Colorado since March of 2019. Upon moving to a small mountain town, Meagan searched for something that would not only allow her the chance to work with animals, but also sought an opportunity that would help support her local community. She quickly found a small, local animal shelter and signed-up to be a dog walker. Meagan finds that volunteering helps her fulfill her desire to not only care for animals in need, but that it also bolsters her healthy lifestyle. She states that the benefits of volunteering with the animals is akin to a type of therapy, helping her both mentally and physically.
In addition to volunteering at the main shelter, Meagan also fosters some of the long-term residents of Intermountain. She believes that the foster critters not only benefit from the relief of shelter life, but also realizes that the space not taken-up by a long-term animal may allow for more animals to have a chance at a better life…”
Submitted by Wayside Waifs of Kansas City; Honoring Volunteer, Tricia Crowder:
“Tricia Crowder has been helping with Cat Retention Calls [at Wayside Waifs] for about 2 years now. The Cat Retention Program was created about 4 years ago. It is currently [Tricia and I], however, Tricia takes the bulk of the emails or calls from people wanting to surrender their cat for behavioral issues (ie: litterbox misuse, aggression towards other pets or people, spraying in the home, etc…).
She has helped numerous people keep their cat as part of their family, and even those that do come back, we have gained valuable information to note in Companion [Connect] to pass along to the next adopter, [staff and volunteers as well]. All conversations are noted in Companion [Connect], so even if we don’t know in advance that a cat is coming back, we have it ready to move forward knowing what the cat’s needs are.”
Submitted by Animal Rescue League of Iowa; Honoring Volunteer, Lisa Sobotka:
“Here at the Animal Rescue League of Iowa, we have a group of volunteers called Ambassadors. This group helps run all of our adoption events. They come to the ARL of Iowa, pick up animals, transport them to events, then adopt them out off-site. Lisa and her two daughters are very dedicated to helping animals find their forever home, and always find time to fit volunteering in their busy schedules.”
Submitted by Adopt-A-Pet in Fenton, Michigan; Honoring Surgical Room Volunteer, Toni:
“[Toni is our] surgical room volunteer. She is a nurse herself, so she helps in every capacity possible. She makes surgical packs, she preps the animals for surgery, she assists our [Vets and Vet Techs]. She does laundry, she spoils the surgical staff, she helps with sick babies or bottle babies…basically whatever she can. Most of all, she LOVES to help recover the animals after surgery. That means she gets to carry them around and snuggle them.”
Submitted by SAMS Rescue in Hanna City, Illinois; Honoring Volunteer, Kaylee:
“Our lead staff has unanimously voted to spotlight volunteer, Kaylee. Kaylee has been a loyal volunteer of SAMS since 2015. She began helping with SAMS when she was just a high school student as part of a job training program. She has long since graduated and continues to volunteer her time 5 or more days a week.
Kaylee is an absolute gift to the animals at SAMS. She takes time to get to know each one and gives them the much needed love and attention to they deserve. She is quite the hard worker and every shift lead feels very lucky to have her on volunteering during their shift. In addition to her cheery smile, she is helpful with new volunteers and working the occasional offsite event. Kaylee is a true blessing to SAMS Rescue.”
“Volunteering is at the very core of being human. No one has made it through life without someone else’s help.” – Heather French Henry
We’re continually in awe of the passion and dedication of our animal welfare community. The beautiful thing about volunteering is the impact it has on our own lives and the lives of others. Reach out to your local animal shelter and see how you can volunteer your time today! Also, did you know we honor animal welfare volunteers and fosters every day by offering an animal welfare discount on pet insurance? Click here to get a quote now!