The Dumb Friends League is committed to ending animal homelessness across Colorado and I want it to have a greater impact on the community. Every dollar raised helps place healthy and safe cats, dogs, horses, and small mammals, provide vaccine clinics across the Denver Metro Area, and reach children and adults through Humane Education programs.

I have worked for the Dumb Friends League since 2019, first as a member of the animal care/adoptions team, and then as a Volunteer Services Coordinator. This is the fourth shelter I've worked at in the past decade, and let me tell you, I never cease to be impressed with this organization.

The relationship the League has with the community truly shines. Wisely, the League understands that the way our communities support us determines how we can support the homeless animal populations we care for. We can partner with other shelters to share our resources. We are a safety net for companion animals who have nowhere else to go, or who need care they aren't able to get otherwise. Our Harmony Equine Center, a place I am proud to work, is ready at a moment's notice to take in large scale cruelty and neglect cases for horses, donkeys, and mules. The other location I spend my time at, the Buddy Center, serves a vital role in Douglas County as not only an animal shelter for the community, but also the home base for animal control to bring homeless, lost, or rescued animals in their care.

I have also adopted from the Dumb Friends League. On my first day on the job at the Buddy Center, October 31st, 2019, I fell in love with a giant rabbit and brought him home. I named him Campion. He was larger than our cats, but seemed not to notice this fact. Having been raised in a hutch in a barn, he wasn't one for human socialization, but he had great manners, and was a perfect fit for our home.

In 2020, during the height of the pandemic, I adopted one of my foster kittens. I named him Henry. He is my constant companion, and outrageously cute.

I have had the pleasure (and the terror) of fostering bottle baby kittens, as well as some kittens that came in needing lots of behavior help and TLC. At Harmony I get to brush and lean on the equines. They're warm and fuzzy, and don't seem to mind their admirers.

I've written a lot about myself, partly because this fundraising dashboard prompted me to, but also because if you are donating it's probably because you know me. You might be donating because I have asked you to. You are going off of my word, and my word is that this is a truly great organization to contribute to! Community support is so vital to the work that we do. We can maintain the high level of care and support we provide to people and animals, and hopefully expand our programs. Our mission is this: By working with our compassionate community, we will end pet homelessness and animal suffering.