Martha Miles and Family
March 2008

Foster mother extraordinaire Martha Miles and her family have been a part of the HSWC since February of 2006.  In these last 22 months she has fostered numerous large breed female dogs and all their puppies, she has even adopted one.  According to our calculations, Martha has welcomed 52 puppies and 5 momma dogs into her home and has done a wonderful job of loving and socializing them.  She is our “go to” foster when we have these big mommas and their babies.  Thank you, Martha, we don’t know what we would do without you!

Dawn Otto and Family
February 2008

Dawn Otto and her family started volunteering at the Humane Society in December and hit the ground running. Since then they have been out here almost every weekend helping us update all our wonderful pet pictures and bios on Petfinder! Not only is she committed to getting the photos up, but the excellent quality of her work speaks for itself. Her pictures are amazing, and they are no doubt a big reason that our adoptions have been up in the past couple months. Dawn recently expressed interest in becoming the Petfinder Team Lead and has been doing an amazing job. She has developed a great training session and has opened up the communication lines for the whole team. Thanks Dawn and Family, you are the best!

Barbara Bunton
January 2008

Barbara Bunton loves cats, and we love her! She has only been a volunteer since August, and in that short amount of time has managed to rack up over 230 hours of service. Barbara has taken over as the lead Petsmart Cattery volunteer and does an amazing job with adoptions, transporting of cats, and making sure these kitty cats get all the love and attention they need. Barbara has been a godsend; without her, the cattery at Petsmart would not be as successful as it is. Barbara, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts, and the kitties send their love too.

Jill Fisher
December 2007

Jill Fisher has been a volunteer and important member of the offsite team for almost 3 years now. In those 3 years, Jill has attended at least one orientation a month, even while she was pregnant! Recently she has stepped up and become the co-lead for the offsite team along side Steve Jones. She has taken on the challenging role of scheduling and being the point person for all offsite events. Thanks for stepping up, Jill; our offsite program would not be the same without you! We are lucky to have you on our team .

Lynn Lerch
November 2007

Any of you who come out here on a Tuesday or Thursday afternoon have seen this exemplary volunteer.  Lynn Lerch has been coming out here for two years to walk our smaller dogs.  He walks them out of the barn, down to the benches, sits with them, and gives them the treats, love, and attention they all need. At 87 years young, this West Point grad and Army Colonel “feels like he needs to give back to the community.”  Well, now we are giving back to you; thanks Lynn, you brighten our days and we couldn’t imagine the HSWC without you. 

Sharon (not shown) and Michael McGee
October 2007

Although Sharon and Michael have only been a part of the HSWC family since July, they have made a huge impact on us and our animals, which we are truly grateful for. This mother-son duo came in, right off the bat, full of wonderful ideas and ready to get down to work and sweat a little. They were not interested in playing with cats or dogs, they wanted to help with the less desirable tasks of landscaping, yard work, heavy lifting; and they did. When it came time to clean house for the Grand Re-Opening, Michael and Sharon were here, helping us clean, lift, move, shovel and sort to make sure we looked good. Sharon and Michael have spent countless hours working on a submission video and essay for Extreme Makeover Home Edition, they really want us to be the best Humane Society of Williamson County we can be, and they will be with us every step of the way. Thank you, Sharon and Michael!

You will soon be able to catch Michael on T.V. as the newest member of our Pet of the Week segments on KVUE, and Sharon continues to amaze us with her dedication and energetic personality. We are lucky to have them as volunteers, and even more so, to have them as friends.

Steven Jones
September 2007

Steve Jones has been a cornerstone of the HSWC since May of 2006.  He has devoted countless hours to our four legged friends here at the Shelter since day one, and continues going strong.  In September of this year his hard work and dedication to the HSWC was more than obvious to anyone who had seen him out here.  Anytime we needed extra muscle we could count on him to help us move heavy kennels, work on adoptions out in the barn, and act as off-site presence at Petsense and Petsmart.  Steve was instrumental in the adoption of two of our long term K9 residents.  Shortly after he took Molly and Amelie to get professional photographs taken to place on Pet Point, they were adopted into loving “Forever” homes. As a “Foster Parent” to many of our doggie residents, Steve is beyond compare, at one point he had a houseful and spent his off-time catering to their needs with compassion and love. Thank you Steve, we REALLY couldn’t do it without you!

Emma-Lee and Catherine Caprio, and Cassie Prince
April 2007

Emma-Lee Caprio and her daughters Catherine and Cassie have been volunteering for two years and we couldn't be more happy with them.  They are ideal volunteers - consistent and caring!  They like to split their time evenly between the dogs and the cats and often bring special homemade toys for the animals.  Catherine is quite a motivated girl and inspires her family to volunteer through her dreams of becoming a veterinarian.  She is currently organizing a project with her Girl Scout troop to make cozy hammocks for our cat community homes.  Emma-Lee, Catherine, and Cassie are great with the animals and make tails wag with delight when they come out to volunteer.  We hope to see the family out here for years to come!

Suzanne Isenhower is well-deserving of the March Volunteer of the Month award.  Suzanne primarily volunteers on the offsite adoption team where she serves as a counselor and a driver and also helps bathe dogs prior to offsite events.  Her efforts have resulted in the happy placement of numerous animals at offsite events...she's a matchmaker!  Suzanne's favorite activity though is to volunteer as a runner during vaccination and microchip clinics where she works to ensure that clinics run smoothly and quickly and to educate members of the public about animal care.  She is a hardworking go-getter and her enthusiasm is infectious and motivates others to make a difference too.  Congratulations Suzanne!!

Brenda, Grace, and Robert Wilson
February 2007

Brenda, Grace, and Robert Wilson receive the February Volunteer of the Month Award! The Wilsons began volunteering in January of 2006 and in their 1 year of service we have entrusted the family with a large amount of responsibility and they always do a phenomenal job. With the assistance of her teens, Brenda teaches Level One Dog Handling classes which starts all dog volunteers on the same page and right path. The family also helps in other areas such as dog walking, offsite events, and Vaccination Clinics. Brenda recently started appearing on the HSWC's KVUE Pet of the Week segment where she is an excellent spokeswoman for the shelter. Brenda and Grace also come in with their Girl Scout Troop and do various projects for the shelter.
This family is amazing!! Please congratulate them on their fantastic efforts.

Robin Petersen & Javon Roberson
Oct - Dec 2006

The October – December Volunteer of the Quarter Award goes to mother/son duo Robin Petersen and Javon Roberson. Congrats! Robin and Javon are both dog and cat lovers and primarily volunteer with the Offsite Adoption Team and Foster Team. Since joining the program in March of 2006 they have proven to be a great addition to our team! Their reliability, friendliness, and willingness to take on responsibility make them a great asset to the Offsite Team and their huge hearts and patience makes them super fosters. Since joining the Foster Team they’ve raised 16 happy and healthy puppies and kittens. We’re so happy to have you Robin and Javon and thank you for being some of the best volunteers around!

Kelly Kaelin
July 2006 - September 2006

Kelly has been volunteering since 2002 and is a familiar face to many as she and furry co-hosts represent the HSWC on the KVUE News Sunday Pet-of-the-Week segment. In addition to talking about the feature pet on air, Kelly also promotes HSWC services, events, and core beliefs. The news segment is invaluable to the shelter as many many visitors tell us they heard about a particular animal or service because they "saw it on KVUE." We couldn't do it without Kelly's dedication and super spokeswoman skills. Thank you!!

Ginna Beal & Rachel Hull
April 2006 - June 2006

Tracy Herring
October 2005 - December 2005

Tracy has been volunteering for the humane society for one year and has thoroughly impressed her peers and staff members with her motivation, leadership, and dedication. In addition to successfully leading
the growing Offsite Team, Tracy has also generously offered to use her skills and those of her friends and family to improve the shelter by updating electrical work, installing new lighting, completing spring cleaning, assisting with cattery renovations, and conducting main office renovations. Tracy, you are a volunteer super star!

Evelyn Sanders
July 2005 – September 2005

Evelyn has 4.5 years of volunteering at the Humane Society of Williamson County under her belt. As the Team Leader for Foster Care, she evaluates potential fosters, provides training, and serves a mentor to the team. In addition, Evelyn has fostered hundreds of animals since the time she started volunteering in 2001. She is compassionate, reliable, and knowledgeable - she truly is a life saver!

Kim Shepard
April 2005 – June 2005

Kim Shepard has been volunteering for the HSWC since July 2004. She currently serves as the Petfinder Co-Team Lead, in which her responsibilities include training new Petfinder Volunteers and photographing animals for our website and Petfinder. She also serves as the lead for Newspaper Pet of the Week in which she provides pictures and bios of our animals to the local newspapers each week. Kim is one of our most active volunteers and we are incredibly very fortunate to have her on board!

Diane Haun
January - March 2005

Diane started out as a volunteer on the Offsite Adoption team in November 2002. She was trained as an Adoption Counselor in 2003, usually helping with two or three adoptions each month. In January 2004, she took over as the Adoption Team Lead, scheduling the weekly offsite adoptions at Petsmart and Petco. In her "real life", Diane works for IBM as a Resolution Manager handling complaints for one of the divisions here in Austin.

Jennifer Thomas
October - December 2004

Jennifer has been the HSWC Webmaster since August 2004. As soon as she joined up, she overhauled the website. She usually spends three or four hours a month on the site. She has also helped out with some data entry in the office. Jennifer enjoys keeping up with HSWC events and feels lucky that she is a part of such a dedicated organization! Outside of the HSWC, she is active in many canine activities and is a member of the Travis Agility Group and the National Animal Control Association.