She works full time but devotes many of her weekends and her evenings to the County Animal Services shelter on Gaines Street in San Diego. Quite a commitment and she’s been doing this for ten years.
Now that’s devotion and for all her steadfast volunteer work over the last decade, Kathleen McPherson of Point Loma was named the County’s Volunteer of the Month at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting.
McPherson specializes in helping dogs at the shelter and Supervisor Ron Roberts gave an example of her work.
“For an entire month, she came in every day to walk and socialize a chocolate Labrador pit bull blend that was there in the shelter,” said Supervisor Roberts. “During her long walks and the time she spent with the animal she was able to really assess the temperament of this particular dog in a great way and assist with the adoption of this pet.”
Supervisor Roberts says McPherson has the right personality for this type of work and that she takes the time to learn the personalities of the dogs at the shelter.
“I love working with animals at the shelter, basically to get the dogs out of the kennels so they don’t go crazy,” said McPherson.
She adds that her work there is a lot of fun and what inspires her are all the other volunteers who, she says, have done so much more than she has. Nevertheless, Animal Services wanted to acknowledge McPherson and her devotion to the animals.
“Her work has played a big part in getting animals back into homes,” said Animal Services Director Dawn Danielson.
Nearly 650 volunteers donated their time to Animal Services in the last fiscal year adding up to more than 36,000 hours. Would McPherson recommend volunteering at the shelter to others?
“Oh, yes, if they love animals and want to help them,” said McPherson.
So with all her volunteer work, does she have pets at home? While she walks dogs at the shelter, McPherson says she doesn’t have any back home. Instead, she has furry felines to keep her company.
“Cats are adorable,” said McPherson.
Yup, a dog person and a cat person combined. Perfect.
