CRAN News
Volunteer of the Month – February 2022
Emily Schnabel
Congratulations to Emily Schnabel our February Volunteer of the Month!
Emily has been a fostering since 2020 and has also volunteered as an adoption counselor, TLC volunteer and an Advocat and she does all of this on top of being a full-time student! We asked Emily how she got started with CRAN and what she enjoys about volunteering: “As for what brought me to CRAN, a friend of mine Rebecca, had been fostering a mom and babies for you all (Macaroni and kittens- Orzo, Ziti, etc). Rebecca asked me if I would be interested in fostering Macaroni because she felt she wasn’t getting enough attention. I said yes, Kim quickly approved it, and the rest is history!
It’s been a joy to work with CRAN and in the past year I really have felt like a part of CRAN’s volunteer community. It’s inspiring to spend time with people who are so committed to a mission and who care so deeply and advocate for beings that don’t have the power that we do.”
Thank you so much for all you have done and are doing for CRAN!
January 2022 Volunteer of the Month
January 2022 Volunteer of the Month: Winter Watson
Meet our January Volunteer of the Month – Winter Watson.
Winter started as a foster during the first pandemic year.
Cranky cats?
Check.
Timid kittens?
Check
Mush babies?
Check
Bottle babies?
Check
Winter takes them all on and with a loving hand, prepares them for their next adventure.
We asked Winter to share about his experience with CRAN:
“I was new in town, and, as a young person with more time than money, volunteering is a great way to build connections. I knew I wanted to live with cats, and I liked how CRAN does not euthanize cats unnecessarily so I started fostering as a COVID safe way to get involved. I’d say about three dozen, probably no fewer and not much higher. When my housing situation changed, I started volunteering at TLC to get more cat time, and that has truly been a wonderful experience to meet so many amazing cats and kittens. I recommend fostering and volunteering at the catteries to people all the time.”
Thank you Winter!
Volunteer of the Month – December 2021
Mushu Dappletini Scofield – Moosh has been volunteering for CRAN since the beginning of time. Moosh is our trusted dog-test volunteer, allowing a variety of cats and kittens to meet her and alert us to any alarms they might have about canines. Moosh also volunteers on a regular basis at TLC with her human companion, Martha Scofield. We asked for Martha’s favorite story about MuShu’s volunteering: “This happened on a Sunday when I was busy fixing food dishes for the ringworm room. Sarah was already in the room. I had a tray of food with three bowls of yummy stinky cat food ready but Sarah couldn’t take them off my hands just yet. I got busy doing something else. (All this time MuShu was manning her usual post in the kitchen.) I didn’t want to balance the tray on the laundry bins so I set it on the floor thinking Sarah was going to pick it right up. The minute I got distracted, The Moosh jumped off her perch, moseyed down the hall, then proceeded to help herself. Ate all three bowls of food. Only realized something was amiss when I heard Sarah exclaiming about something. She didn’t realize MuShu was helping herself to all that food because the kick plate on the door was just high enough to hide her misdeed when she had her head down scarfing every last morsel of cat food. Only when MuShu lifted her head up – probably coming up for air after that marathon food binge – did Sarah see what was going on. Needless to say, The Tsarina of TLC was quite pleased with herself!”
Volunteer of the Month – November 2021
Casey Hitchcock – Casey is one of our COVID fosters – she and her family started fostering at the beginning of the pandemic, and have become invaluable to CRAN’s foster program. Casey does it all – socialize, feed, scoop, care for sick kittens, happy kittens, crazy kittens, you name it! When we asked Casey what her favorite memory is of volunteering, she said “I have absolutely loved fostering for CRAN, and I’m two cats richer for it! I think my favorite memory was getting Joey (pictured) who was returned from being adopted. It was supposed to be just a short-term foster.As he immediately snuggled into my arms and I cradled him, my husband looked over at us and said, “We aren’t giving this damn cat back, are we?” It was love!”
Volunteer of the Month – October 2021
Tom Heusel initially started by fostering along with his wife Rachele Raia but they immediately foster failed, and were reluctant to foster again. Rachele became an adoption counselor and Tom has become CRAN’s go-to volunteer for transport. When we need cats or kittens transported from a foster home to a medical appointment, a couple texts with Tom, and the transportation is all set. Tom has picked up and delivered kittens in the early morning hours, from foster to WAG, from foster to McKenzie, from foster to Lucky Paws, in all sorts of weather, and he is also usually available for afternoon pickups as well. When asked about volunteering, Tom’s response was:
“It’s nice to be able to contribute. Our foster families do incredible work 24 hours a day with multiple cats. My early morning wake-ups for 6:50 a.m. appointments are easy and no inconvenience (many years of 6:45 am shifts in the OR.)
(Does this “Volunteer of the Month” come with a free cat?)”
Thank you Tom!
Volunteer of the Month – September 2021
Rachel, Louis, Ellie and Leah Nosce,are our September 2021 Volunteer(s) of the month. It’s a family affair for this caring group who have been fosters for CRAN since 2018. Are there kittens in need of socialization? Rachel and Louis and their daughters are up to the task. Is there a singleton kitten in need of a safe harbor? Just ask Rachel or Louis. Friendly kittens, scared kittens, sick kittens – the Nosce family nurtures them all, and prepares them for happy adoptions. Congratulations and Thank You for all you do!
Volunteer of the Month – August 2021
Congratulations to our August Volunteer of the Month – Gen Gallagher! Gen has been working as our social media assistant since August 2020 and is doing an awesome job. Gen’s job is a behind the scenes job that is critical to helping cats get adopted. Gen keeps track of available cats and kittens and writes short descriptions for posts on Social Media (both Facebook and Instagram). It requires a knowledge of the social media platforms as well as Buffer, our scheduling software. The job also requires updating our Social Media spreadsheet so we can track who has been promoted. Not only has Gen kept up with posting cats on all of our social media (often 3 or 4 posts a week), she came up with an idea to increase our followers on Instagram and put it into action. She made a gift basket and then had people on Instagram enter by following us, liking the post and tagging 2 friends. It was a success and we are getting close to 900 followers. There’s no stopping Gen as she is already planning the next promotion when we reach 900 followers. Thank you Gen!
Volunteer of the Month – July 2021
Please join me in congratulating our July Volunteer of the Month – Brook Schmidt. Brooke has been volunteering since July and is amazing. She works full-time but also finds time to help CRAN by keeping our Adoptable Cat Binders up to date. These binders are at both PetSmart locations and have been even more critical while we were unable to show our cats and kittens at adoption locations. Brooke keeps track of the flyers in the binders, new cats available for adoption and cats that are adopted. She creates flyers for the newly available cats and adds them to the binders and removes the cats that have been adopted. Brooke has kept these up to date and never missed an update. She has become very adept at using Rescue Groups and quickly became very independent in her role. Thank you Brooke!!
Volunteer of the Month – June 2021
Please join me in congratulating Teri Giustina as our June Volunteer of the Month! She has been building our adoption folders this year (about 10-20 folders a week) for Pending Adoptions and cats being promoted from foster homes! Teri is very organized and an excellent contributor! Thank you Teri!
Volunteer of the Month – May 2021
Congratulations to Tracy Lilley, our May Volunteer of the Month! Tracy is an extraordinary bio writer volunteer and is always enthusiastic! Another great contributor to our Cat Promotion Team. Thank you Tracy!
