One of our new additions to the team, Christine H., has been volunteering with us for 6 months. In that short amount of time, Christine has branched out to several different roles. She started out in Dog Walking & Enrichment and then started to help out in Dog Walking 2, Miles For Mutts, PetSmart Transport and has just completed Purple Dog Training. Christine started volunteering because she wanted to give back to the community. She was able to retire early from her career so she wanted to find an organization that shared her dedication and commitment to homeless animals. That was her way of saying thank you to the universe for early retirement!
Volunteering with Animal Friends Alliance is important to Christine because the organization represents so many of her core beliefs toward animals such as helping homeless animals find homes, providing affordable spay and neuter services, trap and neuter for feral cats and community support for pet owners. By volunteering she hopes to spread the message that animals’ lives are valuable in our community and we can all work together to honor and promote the human/animal bond. She tells her friends and acquaintances about all of the wonderful pets available for adoption and the services we provide whenever possible. Christine is a real advocate for our organization and for the work that we do. She’s delighted to meet so many other awesome volunteers and staff members who are working so hard to help homeless animals.
Christine’s most memorable experience was the first time she took a group of kittens to PetSmart. She hadn’t been around a kitten in so long it just about brought her to tears. At home Christine has an almost 17 year old Siamese cat that she got from one of her clients who had an out of control breeding situation. She is a wonderful cat though getting to the end of her life so Christine is enjoying every moment she has with her. Unfortunately Christine just lost her 15 year old dachshund mix who struggled with Dementia. She also has 3 foster guinea pigs that she has a ton of fun with as she describes them as crazy little characters.
Christine is from Illinois but moved to Denver with her family in the 70’s. She came to Fort Collins in the early 90’s because she had some other family in the area and back then it was more affordable. Now Christine lives in Laporte where she enjoys a good book or doing home improvement projects. She and her husband have also been working on their cabin in Laramie. During her career, Christine started as a Veterinary Technician then graduated with her BA in Sociology with an emphasis in Criminology. She went on to work as a probation officer for 20 years until her recent retirement.
In the future, Christine hopes to do some serious traveling and spend more time at her cabin. She would like to incorporate being a transfer volunteer into some of her travels. She loves learning about animal behavior and hopes to continue to advance her training through Animal Friends Alliance. She is also considering becoming a foster volunteer for puppies. Thank you, Christine, for joining our team and being such a dedicated advocate for the animals!