We Couldn't Do What We Do...

...without our volunteers. They give of their time and often their money and other resources as well because they care. We care too and one of the ways we show this is through an annual party thrown exclusively for those who help us day in and day out. Each year we give out awards to volunteers who have given us the desire to recognize their outstanding dedication. Here are the descriptions of this years honorees:

Our "Volunteers of the Year"

 

This person’s 2010 hours totaled 298.5 hours (average volunteer will clock in about 200 hours per year.)

Words to describe this person: Dedicated, Caring, Hard-worker.

Besides coming every Sunday afternoon she stays to also volunteer the Sunday evening shift…this includes every week in the summer! She is reliable and has only missed one week all year! That’s dedication.

If she does not come baring gifts from HAWS in the summer that she has so kindly stopped to pick up, she comes baring wonderfully homemade treats to share with everyone! She also is the creative mind behind many of Daphne’s handmade costumes.

Every Sunday she starts her shift by asking what is going on and what can she do to help before she has to begin charts. It never fails, and I love that about her. She is willing to do anything; even if it is a job that belongs on Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe! She has spent Sunday afternoons adding wind-block branches to the aviaries in the dead of winter, been elbow deep in duck poop, help re-set animal cages for new patients and has done it all with a smile on her face!
She shows patience with every animal’s chart she does and always makes sure the animals are as comfortable and stress-free as possible.
She goes the extra mile; as I mentioned before she often stops at HAWS or Elmbrook Humane Society on her way to the center in the summer. She has gone to the extra classes offered by animal care staff to help better herself and her wildlife skills. She helps out greatly for the World’s Greatest Cookie Sale; baking dog cookies and baking dozens and dozens of her own delicious recipes for the sale. She has also been known to bring tasty treats to the Pancake Breakfast and has been behind the scenes volunteering at our annual banquet.
She is also one of our Home Care Volunteers who has cared for many self-feeding Cottontails through the years. I know if they could, the patients and residents she has cared for since starting at the center in 2006 would say, Thank you.

She is dedicated, caring, and a very hard worker. The center would not be the same without her and we are so grateful to have her as part of the Wildlife In Need Center’s team. Thank you for all that you do!

She has been an animal care volunteer at WINC since 2006. Her regular animal care shift is every Saturday morning, and in 2010 she volunteered 211 hours.
Besides her weekly animal care shift, she is our “Go To” person whenever we are in need of extra volunteer help. Because she lives near WINC, she can be here in minutes when we call to ask for her help. She rarely misses her regular shift or says no to our pleas for extra help.

She will never hesitate to ask us how she can help. If we have extra jobs that need to be done after animal care is complete, she is there to jump right in to do whatever needs doing. No job is too tedious, difficult, dirty, smelly or uncomfortable. She will work at a job outside in frigid winter weather or in our hot, humid, buggy summers. She even came in several days when we needed extra eyes to help find our Red-tailed Hawk, Raenah.

Especially handy is the fact that due to her experience and animal-handling skills, she is able to handle a raptor while I do a treatment on it, or she’ll clean its cage while I hold the bird. But she will also feed baby birds, feed and clean up after messy little ducklings, care for Daphne, and any other animals that need care.
She has never hesitated to pitch-in or complained about the amount of cleaning necessary on every shift. She washes dishes and does laundry and still has a smile on her face. The Staff and the other volunteers enjoy working with her because of her hard work and good sense of humor.
Thank you so much, we love you!

Our "Rising Star" volunteer of the year

This person has worked on just about every shift possible except for maybe on Saturdays.

This person started as a volunteer in September and had racked up 135 hours in 12 weeks for the year of 2010 (an average volunteer would only work about 50 hours in that time.)

Although she is new to the Wildlife In Need Center she is already a strong rising star! When we lost our two Monday afternoon volunteers in the same week due to a back injury and a foot injury, she stepped in and took on the Monday afternoon shift along with her Tuesday afternoon shift! She took over for them at the end of November last year and has continued to cover until they were ready to come back this coming week. I do not want to leave out that she is driving from Whitewater to get here every week!

Since she started she has shown great enthusiasm for the center. Willing to do whatever we may ask of her. She has always been one who has asked questions when she was unsure of anything and as staff we love when someone is not afraid to ask questions. She goes the extra mile on her shift to make sure staff is doing ok and making sure we do not need any extra help. I never have to ask her to take out the garbage or sweep and mop. She usually already has those things done before I even think to ask!

On top of taking on extra volunteer hours she even volunteered her beautiful property to some of our orphaned Gray Squirrels this fall.
It has been our pleasure as animal care staff getting to know her and the kind soul that she is. She just brightens our afternoons with her smile! We look forward to continuing to work with her as she begins to learn more advanced animal care at the center.
We appreciate that she has the personality that shows that she wants to be at the center. As animal care staff wildlife rehabilitation is a big part of our lives and we love sharing that with other enthusiastic volunteers. That is why she is 2010’s Rising Star!
We are so grateful to have her as part of the Wildlife In Need Center’s team. Thank you for all that you do!

We are very grateful for the volunteers all year long and can't wait to share the excitement of our new facility with them all. If you are interested in becoming a volutneer visit our website at http://www.helpingwildlife.org/getinvolved/volunteer.htm