The AARF Dream Team

Many of you who read this post may have never met me personally. And you may have not yet met any of the AARF program team. I want you to know how hard they work and how much I appreciate them.

Most animal welfare organizations that run as many programs as AARF does have a paid staff of at least 5-10 people, often more. Do you know how many paid employees AARF has - none! The folks who run our programs are all volunteers, although much of what we do could count as a full-time second job. Our folks donate so much of their time, energy and their own money to make our programs so successful, and I am grateful every day for the amazing team of folks we have.

Many of you also know that a few years ago, we started planning to have our own facility and to be able to finally pay our program directors. As this economy has put many of your own plans on hold, it has had the same effect on AARF, and we have had to delay our push to open our own place. But, we have continued to expand our programs, especially our education and spay/neuter programs. Because of financial constraints, we had to freeze our adoption program for 3 months, but that is also now back up and running strong. And all of our work has continued to be done by our very dedicated unpaid staff, fosters and volunteers.

I hope that anyone reading this will take a moment to send a card or email of appreciation to one of our AARF folks. They do what they do because of love and commitment to animals, but a little pat on the back always helps!

And --- if you want to get involved, we are always looking for more great people to join us!

Contact information:

India Powell - VP of Communications (india@aarfatlanta.org)
Carrieann Banacki-Gillert - Director of Humane Education (carrieann@aarfatlanta.org)
Erica Cottrill - Director of Marking and Client Services (erica@aarfatlanta.org)
Renee Malinowski - VP of Animal Services (renee@aarfatlanta.org)
Stephanie Manley - Director of Foster Services (stephanie@aarfatlanta.org)
Carroll Ball - Coordinator of the Silver Paws Program (carroll@silverpawsprogram.org)
Brooke Martin - VP of Operations (brooke@aarfatlanta.org)
Julie Lewis - VP of Policies and Procedures (julie@aarfatlanta.org)
Gayle Schlueter - Grants Coodinator (gayle@aarfatlanta.org)
Melanie Wiggins - VP of Volunteer Services and Director of Casper's Fund (melanie@aarfatlanta.org)