Greetings from Volunteer Engagement! July 15, 2026

Hello Volunteers,

Shelter update: We currently have 352 animals in our collective care. 162 are at our Novato campus, including 34 dogs, 2 puppies, 58 cats, 39 kittens, 9 rabbits, 11 guinea pigs, 2 reptiles, 4 birds, and 3 fowl, and one pig! 13 animals are in our Oakland office; 27 are at Kitty Corner and the Woodlands stores; and 150 are in foster homes.

Adoption update: Happy hot Wednesday! Thank goodness for a busy week of adoptions (including the peacock pictured here!) because our shelter is jam packed right now!  If you or any of your family and neighbors have been thinking about adopting this summer, pay us a visit! We have SO many amazing animals waiting for you. #adoptdontshop! BTW, we had so many adoption photos, we couldn’t even fit them all in this adoption video! Here’s the Adoption Report for more details of who went home :).

Hopalong happenings: It’s birthday season for many of the Hopalong Foster program staff! Over the past two months, we have celebrated birthdays for Katia, Lanie, Sam, and Dr. Sam. That means lots of festivities here at the office! We are all collectively extremely full because of many delicious lunches out and yummy cakes, most recently a strawberry chiffon cake (not that we’re complaining…). We also celebrated outside of work. Some highlights include wine tasting in Boonville for Alex and Sam, a visit to Alcatraz with family for Dr. Sam, and a trip to Maine for Katia. Happy birthday to the Hopalong staff and to any other summer birthdays reading this!  

Volunteer High Five to Share a Book Volunteers! “A big High Five to our wonderful Share a Book volunteers! These are our animal ambassador teams who have taken additional training to read with children.  We just had a class and have five new teams ready to read. These dedicated teams listen to children read and spend most of their time quiet while their dogs work their magic. Dogs are great reading companions, and the common evidence from studies is that this activity builds confidence. We have programs in the schools and the libraries. With school out for summer, our programs are busy in the libraries with summer reading fun. We also have included reading in our summer camp activities this year. There is great video on the website about the program. Thank you to our amazing Share a Book teams for making a huge difference to children throughout the county!” ~Darlene Blackman, VP of Community Engagement

Happy ending! We love a rescue mission with a happy ending! 🥰 Last Wednesday evening, CHP – Marin received a call from a Good Samaritan reporting a cat loose on 101 South in San Rafael. Not a great place for a kitty to be! Officers Ashley and Vasquez headed out in hopes of finding the cat and quickly spotted him on a median. One officer conducted a traffic break, briefly stopping traffic on the freeway, while the other officer pulled the cat to safety in the patrol car. They promptly brought the kitty to Marin Humane. We weren’t initially sure of the extent of his injuries, but after a thorough exam, our veterinary clinic team were relieved to report that he w as only suffering from road rash. They administered pain meds and antibiotics to keep him comfortable and help him heal. And more good news: he had a microchip and his name was Artie! Our Animal Services team called the number connected to kitty’s chip and reached his very worried family. Artie had gone missing earlier that day from their home in Vallejo and they were astonished to discover he’d made it all the way to Novato! They believe he climbed into the wheelwell of their next door neighbor’s truck who drove to Marin about an hour before he was found. Quite a dangerous joyride for a cat – and especially for a cat who’s 14 years old! Jim and his son Pierce came to the shelter the very next day and were thrilled to be reunited with Artie. Artie is a former Community Cat, but Jim’s family took him in several years ago and made him an official family member. We’re so happy that the family’s all back together now!

Big, BIG thanks to the Good Samaritan who made the call, and especially to California Highway Patrol Officers Ashley and Vasquez for their daring freeway rescue! As always, we’d like to remind folks to microchip their pets! Even if you think your pet would never go missing, this story shows you never know what can happen and an up-to-date microchip will always be your pet’s fastest ticket home. 🏠

Tails of Marin: In this week’s Tails of Marin article, Lisa Bloch starts with this intro: “If you’re like me, you might find yourself wanting to say hi to almost every dog you see. That’s why it’s important to understand the role service dogs play and how to respect their important jobs. It’s also important to understand the difference between service and emotional support animals. Service dogs are highly trained to help their humans, so it’s important to keep a few things in mind when seeing them.” Read the full article for more details on “The difference between service and emotional support animals.”

Photo contest! We’re loving the photos coming in for our Strike A Paws Photo Contest… but have we seen yours? The contest is still open, and now’s the time to enter your pet and get your friends and family to help make them a star! Entering the contest is as easy as saying “cheese.” Here’s what you need to know: *Submit your pet’s photo. The entry fee is $25, and each vote is $1.  *Everyone wins! Our top winners in each category will receive special prizes, and every entrant will be featured on our website.  *Contest ends July 31, 2026. So don’t delay – enter your pet today.  🐶🐱✨! Click here for more details! 

Volunteer High Fives to the Thrift Shop leadership team! “Since gratitude never goes out of style, here are HUGE High Fives to the Thrift Shop leadership team. Emi, Maedell, and Debi go above and beyond every day, every week. 

Here’s a huge High Five to Emi Leeds – Running the Thrift Shop has become big, big business and while others gladly stepped back, she stepped forward and took us through a major renovation. There were preliminary plans, contractors, storage arrangements, painters, electricians, countless meetings, Xfinity woes, flooring issues, new shelving units, and more! What a wild few months that was! Emi also updated our payment method to the new Clover processing tool that took us away from logging each item and price on a notepad. Recently, Emi started the Thrift Shop Instagram account, adding photos and videos. Looks great and helps sales, too! Organization is Emi’s specialty and she enjoys showing her creativity with shop displays as well. A huge round of thanks to, Emi.

High Five to Maedell Stafford who is worth her weight in our gratitude! Literally, she takes and recycles heavy metals discarded in the shop for our profit. Maedell prices goods no one wants to handle and she has multiple sources to help us evaluate them. Maedell thoughtfully recycles other goods and clothing to the Rescue Mission in Richmond. Recently Maedell joined the jewelry team with their pricing and displays. I’ve heard her praise as an excellent listener of shop issues. Thank you, Maedell, for all you do behind the scenes!

High Five to Debi Anker who has the hard job of herding cats. Every month Debi schedules the Thrift Shop volunteers for 1/2 days, full days and emergency days. She keeps track of monthly expenses, daily deposits and reports to us at the end of the month about our wonderful sales. She orders all sorts of goods as well as bizarre requests! A huge round of thanks Debi!” ~ Darlene Dinelli, Thrift Shop volunteer

Hope you have a great week!

Candace