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Meg was cruising the internet one day when she came across AFA. She
immediately knew she wanted to check us out, and in February of 2001
Meg joined us for good. In fact, she and Janett started together on
the very same...interesting day.
Meg’s favorite part about volunteering with
AFA is the sense that she’s doing some good and giving back to the
community. Like all of the volunteers, she also loves interacting with
the animals and other volunteers. Meg really enjoys the fact that AFA
puts heavy emphasis on learning, educating others and animal
enrichment, which, she says, makes AFA stand out from most other
facilities. She also has a few memorable moments, but only two that
she’ll share ;-) She remembers being petrified the first time she was
in the coati cage, because I’d spent so much time talking about our
aggressive coati Odie and focusing on the sometimes aggressive nature
of coatis. She thought she was going to be eaten alive, but once she
started interacting with them she quickly fell in love. In fact, her
favorite animal at AFA is one of our female coatis Ba’Si.
Meg travels a long way from Channahon to
Palos Park when she’s helping out on-site. The commute, she says, is
her least favorite thing about volunteering. But Meg doesn’t have to
commute much anymore! While she used to do a lot of cleaning and
helping out at educational programs, she’s now doing AFA work from
home. With the addition of her beautiful son in September of 2005,
she’s found herself a little strapped for time! So Meg, who’s always
been one of our best “idea” persons, has taken on the new and very
important role of Program Coordinator and Fundraiser. Not only does
Meg have great ideas, but she also possesses consistent follow
through on projects. Meg has made many contacts and has helped us in
securing bookings for educational programs. In addition, she’s
constantly hunting for corporate sponsors and potential donors. She’s
both persistent and persuasive.
Meg admits that her hobbies, such as
horseback riding and reading, have fell to the wayside now that her
occupation of full-time mom has taken over. In addition to her human
family, Meg shares her home with many animals: Bailey the African Grey
parrot (from AFA), Kyrie the English mastiff (from AFA), Dudley the
Florida box turtle, Olivia the Greek tortoise (from AFA), Chay the
sulcata tortoise, Nez the red tail boa, and cats Dasher, Holly, And
Marley (all from AFA).
So what else does AFA say about Meg? She’s a
priceless part of both the AFA family and also personal family. We
love her like she’s one of our very own!
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