The Lori Kauffman Volunteer Of The Month Award

Tiffany Allen is the recipient of the September 2009 Lori Kauffman Volunteer of the Month Award

Congratulations to Tiffany Allen, our September Volunteer of the Month! Tiffany volunteers as a foster for GRRA. She became involved with GRRA in June, 2008 when she was looking for activities for people with dogs. The monthly hikes attracted her to GRRA.

Tiffany has a 5 1/2 year old hound named Scarlee and became interested in fostering larger breed dogs. GRRA fit the bill for that, too. Tiffany has fostered approximately 7 dogs in the past year. Her most memorable foster is Simon whom she fostered for 9 months. There was some interest in Simon when he first became available, but no appropriate matches were found. When Tiffany took Simon to his last Adoption Day, she had decided to complete the application to adopt him if no one expressed interest. A couple happened to see Simon on that Adoption Day, and their home was a perfect fit for Simon!

The foster dogs have been a positive influence on Scarlee, a once anti-social hound. Having dogs in and out of her life has made Scarlee more comfortable meeting other dogs and allowing them to sniff her. Now she eagerly plays with new fosters and is a delightful hostess to them. Tiffany has used the fosters to educate children in her neighborhood about rescuing dogs, providing good care to dogs, and the importance of spaying or neutering dogs to reduce the number of unwanted pets.

Tiffany enjoys working with dogs from various backgrounds and levels of training. She enjoys seeing the transformation in them when they have some stability and consistency in their lives that allows them to relax and be happy dogs again. Tiffany says that fostering is hard on her heart, but she loves it!

Thank you, Tiffany, for all you have done for GRRA and the dogs!

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.