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Nikki Russell comes all the way from Bridgeview, IL to volunteer for
AFA, and she's been doing it since the fall of 2006 at the tender age
of 14 - an 8th grader. She doesn't know what she wants to do when she
grows up, but she admits she definitely wants to do something with
animals. She doesn't think she'll have any kids, but lots of pets,
she's sure of! Right now she shares her life with 2 dogs. Tipsy is a
black lab/cane Corso mastiff mix and Cody is a blonde cairn terrier.
Nikki also has 2 finches, Gadget and Gizmo, and a beta fish named
Steve-O.
Nikki heard about volunteering through
volunteer Doreen, and she volunteers because she loves the animals
and wants to help out any way she can. She says, "So many animals are
abused, neglected, or don't have appropriate homes, and than AFA
takes them in and provides them with the home that they need. Without
the help of volunteers, AFA wouldn't exist, and if AFA didn't exist,
the animals that are there now might not have had homes. What would
happen to them if they didn't have AFA?" She admits she doesn't know
all of the animals' names yet, and some of the animals she'd never
even heard of before. But she'd have to say her favorite animals are
Dakota the raccoon, Katie the fox and her all time favorite, Denali
the youngest of the Canada lynxes.
Nikki says she'd like to learn more about
all of the animals, where their natural habitats are, what their
daily habits are, what their personalities are like, where they were
and what happened to them before they came to AFA, and she'd like to
learn all of their names are. When asked what her favorite thing
about volunteering at AFA is, she replied, "being able to play with
and interact with the animals. Not all of them are able to be
handled, but all of them fun to watch too. But I really like to play
with Denali." She says her least favorite thing about volunteering is
probably scraping poop. "But I don't think I know anyone who DOES
like to do that," she admits.
"If I could change anything about AFA... I
don't think I'd change a thing. There are something things that I
"like less" than others, but those things have to be done. I've been
looking for a place like AFA since I was 10 years old. I did find one
place. It was a humane society. I only worked with the puppies there.
At AFA, I've been learning A LOT about the animals, and I get to
spend time with all different kinds. I'm really glad that my friend
Doreen showed me AFA," says Nikki.
What does AFA say about Nikki? For
starters, for being so young Nikki displays incredible responsibility
and reliability. She never refuses a task and is always a pleasure to
be around. We LOVE having her!! She is so gentle with the animals.
They seem to take to her very well because of her kind demeanor.
Thank you, Nikki!!
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