Animal Friends Humane Society Volunteer Of The Month (March 2017)
Congratulations Cindy!
Cindy has been with the Animal Friends Humane Society Volunteer Family since 2012.
She has spent most of her time on our Petmobile with our adoptable pets helping to reach the community and bring awareness to the public! We are so grateful to have Cindy as a volunteer and look forward to having her as part of our volunteer program for many years to come!
“On April 21, 2012, I fulfilled a personal goal to become a volunteer at the Animal Friends Humane Society (AFHS). I vividly remember the exact date because I was transitioning from a very busy corporate role where I was traveling 3-4 days a week to a new career where I could work from home. This transition made it possible for me to add community volunteerism into my schedule and AFHS was at the top of my list!
I decided to become a volunteer for AFHS because I wanted to be an advocate for our homeless cats and dogs. AFHS is such an asset to our community with their Spay/Neuter Program, Barn Cat Program, and the many services they provide to the lost, homeless, abandoned and mistreated animals that enter their shelter each day.
Although I consider myself a “cat person”, I spend most of my time serving on the PetMobile with the dogs. The PetMobile is a fabulous way to get 4-8 dogs out of the shelter for a few hours and create opportunities for them to interact with potential adopters. As a public advocate for these pups, it energizes me to educate visitors on the benefits of adoption and ultimately see these happy pups go home with their new family!
I have always been an animal lover. I grew up on a dairy farm with cows, horses, dogs, and lots of cats. Today, my husband Paul and I have 2 cats that we adopted from AFHS. Paulo is now 5 years old and Meilo is nearly 4. They both bring us a lot of joy and lots of laughs with their silly antics! Because cats are naturally attracted to me, my friends and neighbors call me the “cat whisperer.”
In my personal time, I love to travel with my husband, Paul. We have traveled all over the world, and wherever we go, I am always looking for critters. One of my favorite critter sightings occurred in South Beach Miami where I found 3 separate feral cat colonies. They hang out hiding in the tall grasses, then when I shake a bag of cat food, 10 to 20 cats hop out of the grasses to greet me. The Miami-Dade County Animal Services, just like AFHS, has a very successful “trap-neuter-release” program that curbs the feral cat population and keeps them healthy.
I am very honored to be recognized for my work at AFHS. It is truly a privilege to volunteer for such a great organization.”