Melissa

Melissa is a gem of a volunteer!!! She began with AFA in July 2009 at the tender age of 18. She found us while searching the internet for a shelter to volunteer for. Not only did she contact us right away, but she faxed her application back the same day she received it and started the following week! Melissa has been dedicated and consistent ever since. She’s our Sunday morning gal – cleaning and feeding the downstairs critters, as well as working on miscellaneous projects (like painting the outside coati house in the freezing cold).
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Lydia

Lydia first heard of Animals for Awareness from friends that had attended a local "furry" convention, Midwest Furfest. The convention has a tradition of inviting an animal- oriented charity each year with special events and fundraisers aimed to benefit the charity of choice. "I first met Kim through my boyfriend, who was the charity liason for the convention in 2002. I had heard about AFA from the previous year, but was totally unprepared for the reality."

When Kim asked the MFF staff if anyone was interested in volunteering as AFA's webmaster, Lydia happily offered her services.

Kathleen

Meet Kathleen! She’s a spectacular volunteer who started volunteering with AFA in November 2008 at the age of 24 after coming across a volunteer flyer at Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills. She read it and was immediately interested! She comes out on Tuesdays or Wednesdays to care for the animals, but you name it, she’s done it! Kathleen is also one of our volunteer trainers and welcomes helpers on Tuesdays and Wednesdays! Although she says that all of the animals are a joy to work with, she admits that 17 year old cougar Goliath is her favorite.
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Matt

Bio Forthcoming

Meghan

Meghan commutes to Palos Park from her house in Homewood whenever she has a spare hour or so, which is practically never these days. Finding time for AFA can be quite a challenge for Meghan, as she's in the Army Reserves and is frequently off to wild and wacky countries for weeks at a time. She also works full time as a firefighter and paramedic. Her plate is overflowing. I did ask her about her future goals and she responded, “I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. I’m looking into a PhD program for possible Disaster Management. Can’t I just be independently wealthy and open an AFA II down south??”
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Michelle

Bio Forthcoming

Meg

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.
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April

Back in November 2006 after searching the net for a while, a friend of April's found Animals for Awareness and alerted her to our existence. April decided immediately that she wanted to help. Knowing she had little money she could donate, she wanted to help out other ways, so she wanted to volunteer and decided she was going to go for it. After contacting Kim, she went for her orientation and has been hooked ever since.
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Jennie

We have volunteer April Henry to thank for steering 32 year old Jennie Shetina our way in June of 2009. She is quite the go-getter and will do anything we ask of her, even the stuff no one else wants to do! Jennie comes out with April every chance she can, and cleans cages, feeds animals and helps with offsite educational programs. She’s a true asset to the AFA team!
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Dawn

Dawn English began volunteering for Animals for Awareness in July of 2009 after finding us on the internet. She loves playing with the wild “kitties”, which is a good thing, because one of her tasks is to clean the outside animals, including the wild cats. Dawn also tends to the raccoons, coatimundis and foxes. It’s a tedious job, especially in the winter!
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Chelsea

Chelsea heard about AFA through a former volunteer and began volunteering with us at the sweet age of 20 in August 2009. She is such a sweetheart and will do just about anything we need her to do, although she mainly focuses on educational programs. Chelsea is one of the first to volunteer to help with them no matter what time they start, and she has been known to drag herself out of bed and show up bright and cheerful, ready to help as early as 5:30 am (when she’s not asleep on her alarm clock). hehehehe.
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Lauren

Lauren is an awesome volunteer who's been with us since July, 2009 after finding us on the internet. She's our Friday volunteer, and she's a whirlwind when it comes to feeding and cleaning the animals. But cleaning and feeding aren't her only tasks. Lauren assists with educational programs and will hopefully be training to do them on her own someday soon.
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Katie

Katie found AFA on the internet and began volunteering at the age of 22 during the summer of 2009. Due to her busy schedule, Katie doesn’t come out as often as she’d like to, but does make appearances on some Wednesdays to help out Kathleen. Although she cleans cages, we think Katie would much rather play with the animals. LOL. However, that’s important, because the animals need attention too. In fact, being around the animals and being able to pet them is Katie’s favorite part about volunteering for AFA. And, coincidentally, her least favorite part is… cleaning cages. Go figure.
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Paul

We were lucky when Paul fell upon our website in January 2010 at the age of 41. Paul is our muscle man who is a regular sight on Sundays. He cleans cages and feeds animals, as well as helps with educational programs. Paul will do anything you ask him to do without hesitation, which is great, because he’s probably the strongest volunteer we have!
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