Volunteers of the Year 2023
PAWS Chicago salutes our volunteers who give their time and love to helping homeless cats and dogs
Every year, we honor PAWS volunteers as our Volunteers of the Year. While every single volunteer is absolutely vital to the work we do, these ten special individuals went above and beyond in lending a helping hand to Chicago’s homeless animals. Help us celebrate 2022’s winners and read a little about what makes them so invaluable to PAWS!
Congratulations to Kathy, MaryAnn, David, Pat, Buffie, Eric, Alicia, Cyd, Andrea, and Chris!
Volunteer All Stars
Kathy Rodgers
Kathy started volunteering with PAWS Chicago in April 2023, dedicating over 350 volunteer hours in her first year! Kathy is a dedicated volunteer helping with Kitty City, Community Outreach, Development, special events, feline training, event support, and being one of the first new Location Managers to lead off-site adoption events. She’s also a Team Leader in our Jackson Galaxy Cat PAWsitive Program! Kathy, thank you for all your leadership and your continuous love and care for our animals!
MaryAnn Heard
MaryAnn’s gentle and caring disposition have swiftly carried her to a place among favorites. What makes MaryAnn so extraordinary? Since joining us at the Medical Center in August of last year, she has given over 200 hours to our animals. Every Monday and Wednesday afternoon, MaryAnn visits our animals most in need of enrichment. You will often find her sitting with our shyest, most skittish animals, reading them stories of triumph and comfort to sooth their poor, trembling hearts. Can you imagine a sweeter scene? In her effort to give her time to those animals that need her most, MaryAnn took it upon herself to build a relationship with our animal behavior staff who now trust her to improve the days and increase the emotional wellbeing of our pups. She is concurrently training to become a TLC and Dog Care volunteer. Thank you, MaryAnne, for your kindness, for your commitment, and for your friendship!
David Baumgartner
For over a decade, David has been one of the primary volunteers behind our Volunteers@pawschicago.org email address as part of the Volunteer Operational Support Remote Team, processing new volunteer applications and helping to answer volunteers' questions all along the way. He also manages the training for new members of the team in this role whether that be other volunteers or our interns. While he is predominantly a remote volunteer, he is also a regular Visiting Volunteer Group Host here at the Adoption Center for when corporate or community groups volunteer at PAWS. Between these two roles as well as being a Kitty City, Development, and Event volunteer, David has clocked just about 3,000 volunteer hours of service! He has also adopted from PAWS. He is such an important extension of the Volunteer Team Staff! We are forever grateful for his dedication.
James Horwath
James began his volunteer journey with PAWS in August of 2021. Since then, he has graced PAWS with nearly 450 hours of his service. James is a Level 2 volunteer at both the Adoption Center and the Medical Center. Not only did he level up at both of our facilities, James has become an asset on the volunteer team by also being a First Shift Mentor, an Event Volunteer, a Media Volunteer, and a Transport Driver. As a First Shift Mentor, James welcomes in new volunteers with a smiling face and creates a warm environment to learn and ask questions. He goes the extra mile by coming in early for his mentor shifts to walk dogs. James always comes in with a great attitude and is willing to help wherever is needed. We can always count on James not only for his willingness to represent PAWS at Media Events and Off-Site Adoption events, but to drive a van full of barking puppies to and from the events. We cannot thank James enough for all he does for PAWS.
Pat Detrie
Pat has participated in just about every training class we’ve ever offered, and she is part of the dynamic duo known to the Volunteer Team as “Pat and Russ.” Pat has been a key player at our Special Events for several years. Something that started as a fun way to change things up from the weekly routine, quickly became one of her favorite roles. She has helped dozens of animals find loving homes, and recently became a Location Manager to continue her support for this crucial adoption path. Pat’s motivation is simple. She wants to do everything in her power to ensure that our animals have the best life possible. If it was up to her, she’d do a thorough home inspection and investigation for each and every adopter! But it’s just because she is so committed to these animals. Our pets are fortunate to have someone like Pat in their corner, and we humans are fortunate to have such a wonderful example of what it means to kind, compassionate, and caring to all creatures. Thank you, Pat!
Buffie Berger
Buffie is the epitomy of volunteer spirit. She always comes in with a bright spirit and makes herself available to help. She welcomes in newer volunteers and happily takes them under her wing to show them the ropes. Buffie became a Dog Town volunteer in early March of 2023. She is a rockstar Adoption Counselor and participates in our advanced dog training classes, and stays on standby for weekend Adoption Events. There is no better feeling than the one we get when we see Buffie walk in on a crazy Saturday adoption event, because she is ready to run back and forth doing showing after showing working her match-making magic to get our awesome dogs adopted. Buffie’s warmth and kindness is a staple of pretty much every Tuesday and Thursday at the Adoption Center. Buffie volunteered for nearly 340 hours in 2023 and has averaged 50 hours of month in 2024. But those are just numbers, what can’t be quantified is the difference she makes here at PAWS and in the lives of the countless dogs and people she touches.
Eric Boberg
Even if you’ve never met Eric, you probably recognize him because we use him on all of our marketing – he is just so photogenic with those kittens! Eric has been volunteering at PAWS for close to 6 years. During the pandemic, he shifted his volunteering to focus on the kitties at the Medical Center. Eric learned that this was one of our greatest needs and he’s been at the Medical Center every week since. Eric is a Cat Care/Kitty City volunteer and a member of the TLC Team, our specialized crew of volunteers trained to socialize animals in medical isolation. Each week, Eric starts his volunteer shift showing the healthy kitties some love, but, after his lunch break, he “gowns up” to visit with some of our most critical felines at the Medical Center. He is no stranger to Upper Respiratory Infection, Ringworm, or Panleukopenia. These illnesses can be scary for our cats in isolation, but Eric loves these cats all the same and gives them each the love they deserve. On behalf of all the cats he has snuggled, bathed, and helpes nurse back to health, Thank you, Eric!
Alicia Haruska
Alicia started volunteering in the summer of 2021. She's a committed Dog Town and Events volunteer, Adoption Counselor, and Training Support for our Dog Town classes. She also helps with photography, taking part in our dog field trips program and many other various tasks. Alicia is a core member of our weekday daytime volunteer support here at the Adoption Center, volunteering for 3–4 days a week. She has volunteered over 500 hours just in 2023 and has already reached 200 hours this year alone. We are so grateful for her time, passion, and positive attitude!
Cyd Kuck
Cyd could be described as a Dog Care volunteer, but that wouldn’t cover nearly a third of what Cyd does on a weekly basis for us here at PAWS! She has volunteered with us for nearly 4,000 hours over the past 7 years. She is an excellent handler, a great teacher, and always a delight to talk to! Cyd volunteers at the Medical Center nearly every Wednesday. If she isn’t there, she is likely driving some cross-country transport for us to pick up new animals from our rescue partners to bring back to PAWS! Cyd has also trained so many of our incoming pets. Teaching is one of Cyd’s many specialties and she does such an incredible job guiding new volunteers. While Cyd surpasses expectations at every turn, she is also always up for a new challenge. This past year, Cyd helped pioneer our brand new CACC clinic transport program in which we pull animals from CACC to spay neuter them. Cyd is a reliable, flexible, and kind volunteer, every program she is involved with runs smoother because she is there!
Andrea Schmoyer
Andrea returned to PAWS as a volunteer in June of 2018 after moving back to Chicago. Since then, she has devoted over 1,000 hours of service to PAWS and has gone above and beyond for both our feline residents and fellow volunteers alike. Andrea’s involvement with training our Kitty City volunteers has been invaluable. As a Kitty City first-shift mentor, Andrea helps to train new volunteers. And then, when they are ready for more responsibility, Andrea also co-leads our Kitty City Level 2 training classes, sharing her knowledge and experience to ensure volunteers are prepared to provide our cats with the best care. Andrea is also a member of our feline follow-up remote team, which is where adopters go when they need assistance with their cats. As a member of this team, she addresses questions and concerns and offers up advice to help keep these cats thriving in their homes. Plus, Andrea is an active foster playing an important role in fostering two of our well-known former long-term residents, Sweater and Vernon! Thank you, Andrea, we are so grateful for everything you do!
Chris Bortman
Chris enters the Medical Center, everyone in the building can feel her presence. An absolutely invaluable part of the Medical Center team, she does do it all. You’ll find Chris at the Medical Center almost every weekday morning. As a dog volunteer, she helps walk and feed dogs during the morning shifts. You’ll find her cleaning a ward on her own, doing dishes, or folding endless loads of laundry. You might find Chris driving the transport van in an early morning pinch, helping receive an intake of pups to the Medical Center, or hitting the road to bring a PAWS pet wherever they need to be. Chris has done so much for homeless pets in her incredible 4,530 lifetime service hours. We are so deeply thankful for all that you do, Chris. You’ve changed the lives of thousands of pets, and people, for the better.