High Five to Christmas Volunteers! A huge High Five to all the volunteers who came into the shelter on Christmas to walk dogs, socialize cats, pet rabbits, clean kennels and cages, and do laundry! The staff — and animals — so appreciated your time and dedication!
~ Candace & Anne, Volunteer Services
High Five to Rainey Sarmiento! Recently I had to take a leave that would last 5 weeks. That is a long time but most of my duties were covered by our great team in Animal Care. There was one area that is time consuming, detailed, and requires quick turnaround and flexibility. I am describing the Transporter Program. In trying to figure out how to handle this, up stepped Rainey. She is a Dog Pet Pal and part of our Transporter Team.
Rainey handled the logistics for over 13 transports. including getting 2 tortoises to Modesto, a senior dog Odie to Muttville, and our wonderful miracle dog Casper to his neurology appointments. Not to mention handling transports for offsite spays, dentals and kittens, oh my. Managing the logistics of our Transporter program has many moving parts. Rainey took on the job and everything ran smoothly. Thank You Rainey – we so appreciate you!
~ Mary Stumpo, Animal Care
High Five Neil Lurssen! In addition to being a superior Dog Pet Pal, Neil is a fantastic advocate for animals up for adoption at Marin Humane. Neil takes expressive photos of the adoption dogs, writes elaborate descriptive stories of each animal, then posts them on Facebook. He has a great Facebook following far and wide, and we all look forward to his beautiful prose. Neil understands and seeks knowledge about the individual dog so he can be spot-on with his stories. Thank you, Neil, for using your talents to promote & get more shelter dogs adopted!
~ Kim Lanham-Snyder, Training & Compliance
High Five to Lauren Houde! Lauren goes above and beyond when she comes to the shelter to volunteer. Not only does she volunteer as a Medical Assistant Volunteer, she also is a dog feeder on Sundays and a Dog Pet Pal. I am very grateful to have her volunteer in my department. She comes in after 6pm and stays until 10! Lauren has also been super helpful with a lot of our ringworm dipping. Lauren also helped create a step by step medical assistant guide. This guide is amazing for training new volunteers. Thank you Lauren for going above and beyond!
~ Tonni DuCray, Veterinary Assistant
High Five to Burt Greenspan & Donna Kalal! Super duper high five to Burt and Donna for hosting the Scenting for Shelter Dogs class twice a week for the past several months. This dynamic duo are also known as the “Recording Secretary” and “ Reluctant Cleanup Committee Chair,” respectively. Rain or shine, the “twoleggeds,” Burt & Donna, host The Royal Society of Sniffing Snouts for the shelter dogs and their Dog Pet Pal handlers. In November alone, 51 dogs came to Scenting class and the DPPs who brought them earned a round of applause from the pooches, too! Thank you, Burt & Donna, for the myriad of ways you help the shelter animals!
~ Candace Alexander, Volunteer Services
High Five to Annie Black! Annie was kind enough to make custom-sized cage curtains for our Clinic Cat Wards. We didn’t even ask her! She came to us and offered and now we have beautiful little curtains to help keep the stress level down in our cat wards. Thank you so much, Annie!
~ Andrea Reese, RVT
High Five to Ylenia Philco! We sent out a last minute S.O.S. for a 3-7p volunteer. Typically Wednesday evenings, when the shelter stays open later, is a busy shift – but not everyone’s keen on coming in that late. Ylenia worked a full day at her job AND still came in to help us out from 4-7p. And boy did we need her – it was a busy evening with lots of adoptions the day before Thanksgiving. We were ‘thankful’ to have Ylenia with us. Her warm smile, welcoming way with our clients and ‘can do’ attitude is so very appreciated. THANK YOU Ylenia – you’re awesome!
~ Ruthie and Mary, Adoptions
High Five to Russell Farnell! Marin Humane is part of a Pet Partnership Coalition which consists of a team of volunteers who pull animals from overcrowded shelters in the Central Valley, and transfers them to shelters in Norther California. The Coalition gathers in a parking lot behind the Los Banos Walmart to distribute the animals among participating shelters. Marin Humane usually tries to bring 9-10 dogs back to Marin, and perhaps a bunny or two. This means we use the Pet Partnership van to accommodate that number of crates. The drive is long and much of it is down the lovely Interstate 5 (boring:-), leaving Marin Humane at 7:45a.m. and back by 2-2:30p.m. That’s a long stressful day driving.
Russell has volunteered to drive the last three Coalition transports on his own! His generosity has meant that staff can remain at the shelter to prepare for the arrival of all those animals. A big High Five and thank you to Russell!
~ Mary Stumpo, Animal Care
High Five to the Rainy Day Dog Pet Pals! Gusting rain? Mud puddles? The dogs could care less about the lousy weather and our intrepid DPPs didn’t care either! They turned out in elegant rain slicks to get all the critters out and about with plenty of toweling off afterward. Left is Jane and right is Ann Marie – with Dexter in the middle—and they, like all our Dog Pet Pals, are out there in the elements no matter what Mother Nature throws at them. Thank you volunteers for coming out for the animals, rain or shine!
~ Candace Alexander, Volunteer Services
High Five to Barb Ross! Barb is a jack of all trades. She volunteers in so many departments which is a huge asset in the Medical Assistant Volunteer position. Her knowledge and training is vital. She helps with so many tasks. Barb even helps remind me of tasks that fell off my radar, but still need to be done. She is super conscientious — she is making a chart for tasks that are important and shouldn’t be forgotten
Also, Barb has been picking up extra Medical Assistant Volunteer shifts to cover the days I am training new volunteers so I don’t get behind. Barb is a regular fixture at the shelter, working 2-3 days a week in numerous volunteer roles. Thank you Barb — you are a rock star!
~ Tonni DuCray, Veterinary Assistant
High Five to Angie Lackey! THANK YOU Angie for coming in to help Melissa at a moment’s notice and starting out as a great team player. Bingo (our 19 lb. kitty at Kitty Corner) says thanks for the hug this morning too.Welcome aboard Angie – we’re lucky to have you at Kitty Corner!
~ Ruthie & Marisa, Adoptions
Volunteer High Five to Lorne Magnone! Lorne, a regular Animal Care Volunteer, has also become our “newspaper guru!” The shelter uses rolled-up newspaper for all of the small critters in our care. Lorne has been rolling newspapers for us for many years. He takes the donated newspapers home, culls out what is not to be used, rolls-up the papers, and brings 15-20 rolls back to the shelter twice a week when he comes in for his animal care “gig” in the adoption cat rooms. Recently, Lorne has also offered to pick-up newspapers at the Marin IJ whenever they have donations for us. The animal care staff and all of the SCAs thank Lorne for taking on this task!
~ Candace Alexander, Volunteer Services
