Volunteer Spotlight:
Amy Shields

Amy with Skua at the St. Pat's Snake Parade

How many animal shelters can claim to have an expert on phytoplankton as a volunteer? Someone who has spent numerous summer seasons studying biological oceanography in Antarctica? Well, we can! Meet Dr. Amy Shields, expert on Antarctic microorganisms and lover of all animals.

Amy began volunteering at the HSGKC after adopting one of our shelter dogs, Trudy, who now prefers to be called Skua. She has become part of the regular Saturday group of dedicated volunteers. Amy comes to the shelter and socializes the animals, including Turner and Tuesday, (who was just adopted!) Skua’s siblings. Amy also enjoys spending time with the other volunteers. “I look forward to seeing them and the dogs and cats all week. Over the last few months, I have really gotten to know them and learn about their lives. I also see their love of the animals and how much of an impact they make on the animals they work with,” Amy says. “They are outside when it is raining, snowing, muddy, or hot outside. The animals and their dedication is what gets me up at 7 AM on a Saturday morning instead of sleeping in. The HSGKC is so successful because of the family like atmosphere. It is by far the best organization I have ever volunteered for.”

Amy has always been an animal lover and has had pets ranging from dogs and cats to birds her entire life. “My parents taught me early in life about both the responsibility of a pet and how to respect all animals,” says Amy. Now, along with Skua, Amy also shares her home with Fensir, a dog she rescued while living in Virginia.

Amy's niece & nephew, Ella & Blake, presenting their check

Amy earned her doctorate in Biological Oceanography at the College of William and Mary in 2007 and now works as a scientist for the Federal Government. “I certainly miss traveling all over the world doing research. But, I love being able to have dogs again and being back home,” she admits. In her spare time, Amy enjoys keeping up with her connections in the academic world by continuing to publish pieces on Antarctic phytoplankton. She also loves sailing and has sailed to the West Indies, Bermuda and Nova Scotia. And, when she has her land legs on, Amy loves to spend time with the reasons she moved back to Kansas City, her family- especially her niece and nephew who presented a Jumbo Check at this year’s Kansas City Pet Telethon. They raised their donation baking cookies and drawing pictures!

If you haven’t already considered becoming a member of our Legacy Society, now is the time to think about joining. Legacy Society members have made the commitment to include the HSGKC in their estate plans, ensuring that their charities of choice continue to benefit even after the time for active giving has passed. To get more information about the Legacy Society program please contact Robin.

Do you love event planning? Auctions? Olives? Join the 10th Annual Big Martini Sub-Committee! By offering your time and service, you can help make the tenth year of Big Martini the biggest year yet. Planning committee members round up auction items, help with marketing and promotions and recruit sponsors. Please contact Lauren for additional information and to sign up.

• Stacey Hsu on the birth of her son, Calder.
  
  
• Jana Brunner for being named one of Bark Magazine’s 100 Best and Brightest.
  
  
• Alex Stonebarger for being named one of Kansas’s Top 2 Youth Volunteers and winning the Prudential Spirit of Community Award.

Thank you to the 150 volunteers that made the 10th Annual KC Pet Telethon a woofing success. The pledge amount is $175,000+!

Alex Stonebarger presenting her jumbo check to Gary

Visit our Facebook page to view tons of fun photos from the furry night. Not a Facebook friend with us? Search for us under the name Kc Humane-Society. And special congrats to Lauren Ponchur, our new Special Event Coordinator, for doing such a great job on her first big event.

Silvia Gunter presenting a jumbo check from SAIC, with Jon Fizette and Dustin

In today’s business world, English isn’t always the language everyone uses. Especially for our shelter, which serves a large Latino community, speaking Spanish would be a valuable asset. So, if you are considering making large, in-kind donation to the shelter in the future, something you may want to consider is gifting us with a Rosetta Stone program. The Level 1 Spanish disk retails at approx $200 which is too expensive for us to purchase for ourselves. But, we would certainly accept it as a gift! If you are interested, please contact Robin. Also, if you do purchase a disk for us, please make sure that it is the Latin American Spanish version.

We are resurrecting the monthly Tail Waggin’ Tours and need your help. The Tours are 10-11am the fourth Saturday of each month at the shelter. Attendees enjoy snacks, a brief presentation and then receive a behind the scenes peek at the HSGKC. Our goal is to have 15-20 people attend this family friendly event each month. Help us spread the word about this event by inviting friends, family and co-workers. If you’d like to be on the planning committee contact Robin.

Have you completed your HSGKC Volunteer Questionnaire yet? This survey will help the shelter staff better understand the needs/concerns/compliments and suggestions of our volunteers! As a volunteer, your opinions are of the upmost importance, so don’t go another minute without speaking your mind! It only takes a few minutes to fill out, so please fill out the survey today!

If you happen to roll on down to the shelter this week, please consider bringing some paper towels with you! We are almost completely out of paper towels here and, as an inexpensive in-kind donation, we could sure benefit from a refill. Also, if paper towels aren’t your thing, we are also in need of fine point, black Sharpies. So, I guess your choice is black and white!

For a list of other items and services we need, please check out our Sit Up and Beg Wish List. All of these items go to helping our cause become more successful and our animals’ lives become more enjoyable.

We've Been Adopted!
We're excited to share the news that some of our pets have recently found their forever homes:

Barb, Bianca, Demmy, Dixle, Harvey,

Jenny, Jerry, Jet, Jill, Marvin, Ryan,

Sadie, Seth & Sue (together!), Tuesday, Vienna... and several more!