2020 Award Winners
This past spring we asked our volunteers and staff to nominate individuals who went above and beyond for Seattle Humane or our community. A committee made up of volunteers, staff, and board members reviewed these nominations and selected six individuals (three volunteers and three staff) to receive our 2020 Kibbles & Catnip Awards.
Congratulations to the following staff and volunteers for being the recipients of our 2nd annual Kibbles & Catnip Awards! Thank you for your dedication to Seattle Humane and the animals and people we serve!
Staff
Greg is known by his colleagues on the Intake team as our “Chief of Transport” – there is no job too small nor animal too far that Greg won’t drive to pick up! He organizes crates, loads paperwork, washes the trucks, and makes weekly trips to Yakima to bring us loads of pets. He is an avid Foster Parent and advocates for the most vulnerable cats he finds in other shelters. When transfers slowed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Greg pivoted to supporting our community outreach efforts to continue helping animals however he can. Greg goes above and beyond to help our transfer partners, often texting and calling with smaller rescues to give them updates on the animals they’ve transferred to us. If he finds a note from a foster parent in an animal’s transfer paperwork, he contacts them on his own to keep them in the loop every step of the animal’s way. He is a rock for many staff and volunteers who will never meet him.
Mariel is uncompromising in her passion for animals. Whether it’s providing intensive medical care to sick animals overnight, taking on a challenging foster case, or offering to get a friendly cat off the streets and into a home, she always goes the extra mile to advocate for animals not only in our care, but in the community at large. While employed at Seattle Humane, Mariel has also worked for Pasado’s spay station, picked up relief shifts at RASKC, helps out at Feral Cat Spay Neuter Project, and volunteered at a local youth homeless shelter. She moves mountains to help pet owners get emergency surgeries and services for their pets through her network of veterinary colleagues, has helped lead a class on animal behavior and health to a group of young homeless pet owners, and much more. She is known by folks all over Seattle as someone who can be counted on to help any animal or person in need.
Catie has been at Seattle Humane for two years, and in that time has become a powerhouse for the Foster Team. Catie loves the animals, but she is also incredibly passionate about providing a positive experience for the Foster Parents. While Foster is a critical lifesaving program for the shelter, it’s also mostly an invisible process since the pets are outside of the shelter walls. Catie leads the Foster team in improving visibility for the foster pets by creatively problem-solving and advocating for their needs. Most recently Catie has helped keep the Foster team organized and efficient during the COVID-19 crisis and has provided valuable input into new processes that move lifesaving forward. Foster Parents can count on her being there through difficult situations, whether it’s getting play mates for a sad single kitten, supporting someone dealing with the loss of foster animals, helping to arrange foster for a challenging dog, or helping to carry a giant puppy into Vet Services for an appointment!
Volunteers
Marianne joined Seattle Humane almost 8 years ago as a Cat Care volunteer, and in
recent years has branched out into Vet Services, where she became an incredible asset
to the team in just a short period of time. She now volunteers as a Surgery Recovery Assistant and Surgery Pack Assistant, and trains other volunteers on the Surgery Pack
Assistant position. Marianne is also a Blanketeer – probably the fastest Blanketeer out there! – and with her help the Blanketeers have made 2,000 pet blankets in the past 2 years. Recently she turned her sewing skills to another use when the COVID-19 pandemic began, and made and donated masks to help protect our staff still working onsite.
Denise has been volunteering with Seattle Humane for more than 30 years and has an astounding historical knowledge of the shelter and our operations. She is an indispensable part of our Tuxes & Tails silent auction fundraising team and procures approximately 30% of our auction items every year. In order to procure these items, she puts in full-time work for four months leading up to the event to provide effective donor communication, auction item requests, and auction item pick-up. She also delivers all of the items she procures straight to the shelter to save time for our staff. Denise has built ongoing community relationships with business donors in Washington and Oregon to support Seattle Humane, and continues to grow support year after year. Denise is a strong advocate for Seattle Humane and continues to think of new ways to engage donors and help us raise funds for our lifesaving work.
Birgit volunteers multiple times a week in Cat Care and helps with the training of new cat volunteers, imparting all her knowledge and being a constant resource as those new volunteers grow within Seattle Humane. She also takes on some of our trickiest foster cats, giving them the love they need to feel confident and secure. Back before Seattle Humane began its FeLV adoption program, Birgit was one of the only foster volunteers who took in our FeLV cats. In addition to her work in Cat Care and Foster, Birgit also helps with special events and laundry. Those who work with her say she is never standing still, always busy cleaning, restocking rooms, folding laundry – she’s a real dynamo!
