Tender Loving Caregivers - "Sarah"

The corp of volunteers is really the machine that saves dogs' lives... Some of our volunteers have been with us for almost 4 years now and that really says something... I'd like to take the time to thank those that have given so much to the cause.... 

Sarah with her first 'save', Cookie

Initially I met Sarah when she and her partner came in to mobile adoptions to adopt a specific special needs dog we had named "MoeMoe"... After talking to Sarah for a bit, I realized she cared FAR too much this kind of hard case... Cared in the manner that she actually physically hurt when a fur baby she loved was hurting... I got the sense this would not be a good match and denied the adoption application... MoeMoe went on to be adopted by someone else (that's for another blog posting) and Sarah went on to adopt a cute little sprite that is the love of her life now... 

The next time I met Sarah, she came to a TLC event and as I watched her with her furbaby, it struck me that Sarah might want to channel all of that extra love of hers into the cause of No-Kill, so I talked to her about volunteering... 

Sarah went on to be a regular volunteer, running the secondary mobile adoptions in Simi Valley at Unleashed... On occasion, she'd come to the main mobile adoptions we held each Saturday at the PETCO in Moorpark, and the more I talked to Sarah and was around her, the more I liked her... I particularly enjoyed watching the interaction between her and the little ones... Sarah never has a bad day when there is a little fur baby to hold, cuddle and coo to... It is one of the things I respect the most about Sarah... 

Another thing I have come to count on is Sarah's unique ability to talk to potential adopters, listen with an inner ear and then make some of the best recommendations possible as to which dog or puppy will REALLY work in their lifestyle... She has successfully placed dogs in situations when I didn't really think we even had a dog or puppy that would work out well! ... There really is no 'perfect rescue dog' and while most people tend to adopt from the visuals, Sarah seems to find what the people are really looking for (and maybe they themselves don't even know it at the time)... 

Sarah giving Cookie a
special dose of extra love

Sarah now runs our busiest day at the rescue shop - Saturdays... We can have 400 to 500 folks walk through the rescue shop and that is a LOT of strangers coming into the dogs' 'house' at a time... 

Sarah maintains not only the cleanliness of the shop, but greets everyone with respect and politeness... Everyone (two-footed and four-footed alike) gets all of her attention and how she does this is beyond me... 

TLC could not be where it is today without Sarah... 

Not once in three plus years have I asked Sarah for help that she hasn't not only helped, but gone above and beyond to find solutions for problems, new marketing ideas and just BEEN there through thick and thin, no matter what... 

It is not often in these days and times that you find someone with such integrity, dedication and compassion... She's one a gazillion... 

THANK-YOU, SARAH!