The Lori Kauffman Volunteer Of The Month Award

Cory Deppen is the recipient of the June 2011 Lori Kauffman Volunteer of the Month Award

Cory Deppen, our June Volunteer of the Month, has done a fantastic job of stepping into the role of Webmaster in just the past three months. "My wife became the accounts payable person and I saw the newsletter with the Webmaster opportunity," Cory explains. "So I thought it would be good to help out a group who was fun to work with and for a great benefit," says Cory.

Cory and his wife, Christine, are parents to Jessie, a 6-year-old golden they adopted from the Cobb County Animal Control when she was a puppy. "Christine was at the shelter looking for a puppy and someone walked in with a box of them!" he explains, laughing. They both have attended adoption day but have yet to bring home a playmate for Jessie. "We've talked about it a couple times," he says, "but Jessie has sister and brother cats for now."

Adoption day did allow Cory to put some names with faces, such as Mike Sutton and Robert Kennedy, who have welcomed Cory into the group with open arms. "It {adoption day} gave me a chance to express how much I enjoy working with GRRA™ and what a great group of people there are to work with," he says.

Cory's day-to-day Webmaster role involves not only working behind the scenes on items waiting for approval (like the site redesign) but also on updates for fundraising or auctions for medical expenses, which means working alongside PayPal, calendar updates and even hackers. "We had an issue where the site was hacked," Cory explains, "but we worked through it." With some of the problems that may arise, Cory works with Bluehost, the company who provides the technology for the website, in a professional and timely manner to the point that anyone exploring the site may never know what goes into maintaining it. "I enjoy working with technology and I definitely enjoy goldens and the idea of volunteering and giving back," he explains. "For the site to be up and running is pretty important so it makes me feel like what I am doing is appreciated."

Cory, what you do makes such a difference in the day-to-day activity of GRRA™. Thank you for all you continue to do to make the website wonderful!

Lori Kauffman, who passed away in 2007, was a GRRA™ volunteer who wanted to ensure that GRRA™ continued to do its valuable work. Lori wanted people to know, "Dogs are not disposable. Having a dog is a lifelong commitment. They are an equal part of the family".

If you are aware of a volunteer's efforts that exemplify what is needed to make our volunteer organization survive and thrive, please send a note to volunteer@grra.com. Monthly Nominations are due by the 17th of each month. Click here to see previous award winners.