The Lori Kauffman Volunteer Of The Month Award

Jennifer McIntyre is the recipient of the November 2011 Lori Kauffman Volunteer of the Month Award

Six years ago, Jennifer McIntyre, our November Volunteer of the Month, happened upon GRRA™ while seeking help adopting out a golden. Jennifer and her husband found a very scared stray golden in their apartment complex, took her in and named her Lea. After a few months they sadly realized that their apartment was not the ideal living situation for Lea since she was so active. Jennifer turned to GRRA™ for assistance and the wonderful volunteers allowed her to be the foster of Lea until she found the perfect adopting family. Jennifer found a wonderful family for her; however, Lea, who obviously was abused in her past life, nipped and bit members of the adopting family. Thankfully, GRRA™ adopted Lea back to the McIntyre's who had since moved into a house suitable for the whole canine family. The couple had her for five more years until Lea crossed the rainbow bridge from cancer.

"We really missed having that second dog...there was just a void in the house," she recalled. Jennifer was looking for a GRRA™ dog that did not require much medical expenses since they had dealt with the costs of Lea's cancer treatment. She had her eye on one dog, Carskie, who eventually became a permanent foster situation since he was a senior and had heartworms. GRRA™ will pay for all medications and ensure that a permanent foster dog will be comfortable for the rest of their life. She thought, "We could be a permanent foster. I couldn't take on an older dog with the expense that comes with that, but I definitely could provide a home." They did just that and provided Carskie with a comfortable, loving home for the last five months of his life. "It just kind of went on from there...I'd get another phone call, then another phone call," she laughed. Since then Jennifer has fostered six more dogs. "If I am not fostering a dog then I have space in my home, and we can pull another dog out of a shelter."

Jennifer was nominated this month for her wonderful work with Luke, an epileptic dog. Luke initially had episodes every 1-2 weeks; however, his seizures became so severe that once he had 19 seizures in a 12 hour period. Jennifer took Luke to the emergency vet where he had to stay several days, and eventually Luke was stabilized after several weeks. At one adoption day a family really liked Luke and were willing to take on this special needs dog. "We eventually adopted him out to the family and they have spoiled him and loved him and even created a blog for Luke (now known as Cooper)!" Luke was seizure-free for two months and then had a similar multi-seizure episode with another visit to the emergency room. Jennifer still keeps in touch with the new owners and talks through the issues of living with an epileptic dog.

Along with her fostering duties Jennifer plays the role of membership coordinator helping to put out the spring and the fall newsletter among other responsibilities. "I volunteer because GRRA™'s philosophy of caring for a dog is similar to the philosophy I would take for my own dog," she explains, "They are willing to spend the money to get a dog healthy when they're young and making them comfortable when they're older." It is such an honor to have amazing volunteers like you, who open their hearts and homes to rescued retrievers. Thank you for all you do!

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.