We take great pride in our wonderful volunteers as we see how much their hearts are into their efforts. It’s a genuine labor of love when they help at an array of duties from fostering senior pets or newborns, socializing newly rescued animals so they don’t stress themselves, provide enrichment to keep them active physically and mentally or to teaching our local youth about kindness to animals and responsible pet ownership. Our featured Volunteer of the Month for May 2024, Shyrl Burtchette, is such a devotee to animals, so much so that her Seal Point Siamese cat named Tim, attended her wedding!
Animals played a large part in her upbringing in Raleigh, NC as her family had many pets. Then when she and Don, her high school sweetheart and big animal lover too, married and moved to Maryland to begin their careers as civilians for the Dept. of Defense, they naturally brought their pets, including their Amazon parrot Abuela! Their children were raised in a loving home with many dogs and cats. Their pets were gifted with great care and lived long lives such as Tim who lived to be 19 and another Siamese name Yoda who reached 20 years! Then came Samson, a Flame Point Siamese who Shyrl described as “a cat like no other cat we ever had. He picked us when we were deciding which cat to adopt. It was meant to be. He loved traveling with us from Maryland to Florida. He was a people’s cat. So many people claim Siamese Cats are temperamental and high strung. Samson was just the opposite.” Sadly, he passed on Christmas morning in 2016 leaving a big imprint on their hearts. While they devoted their time to his critical care, after Samson’s passing, they let their hearts heal and do some travelling until they were ready to have another cat join their family.
A few months after Samson passed away, Shyrl gathered up his beds, toys and litter boxes and took them out to YOUR Humane Society SPCA to donate for other cats to enjoy. Shyrl mentioned that “while there, I stopped in at the Catty Shack. I decided then and there that Samson would want me to volunteer in his memory and help the homeless kitties find their furever homes like he had. I began volunteering at the Catty Shack in February 2017.” She has been a much-appreciated member of our team since then.
We asked Shyrl what she would tell prospective volunteers to encourage them to join YOUR HSSPCA in some way. Her reply was truly inspiring. “No matter how badly I might feel on some days, when I arrive at the Catty Shack, as soon as I walk in, I am greeted by the kitties, and it lifts my spirits. They greet me and want nothing but some love, and the timid kitties look at me with fear in their eyes and I try all I can to get them to come out of their shells.” This makes such a difference when adopters see how well socialized the cats are. It is a common testimonial we hear from most adopters of how loving the cats and dogs are and how bonded they become because they learned that they are now safe with our shelter team and with their new families. Our team members receive training in a Fear-Free Shelter program to learn how to “take the ‘pet’ out of petrified” when an animal enters a shelter and that makes such a difference.
One of Shyrl’s most memorable experiences was when she helped a blind Flame Point Siamese cat named Buttons adjust until his adoption. She explained “I am always so pleased when any of our kitties find their furever homes, but that one sticks out in my mind. When I heard he had been adopted, it was such a wonderful feeling to know there are such loving people who are willing to give a handicapped animal a home. Despite all that is going on in the world, there are many good people out there.”
Since Day One, Shyrl has been making a positive difference in the care of our shelter’s cats and kittens in our Catty Shack and Kitten Wonderland areas. She and our other volunteers are often an extension of our shelter’s staff allowing them to carry out other duties. She proudly does the basics of scooping litter, mopping floors, washing food and water bowls, changing out the linens, but most important of all is socializing with the kitties to prepare them for their new homes. Shyrl added that “a cat purring in my lap while being brushed gives me a feeling that is hard to describe. The cat is happy and so am I” and so are we!
We’re proud to have Shyrl Burtchette as part of our shelter team and congratulate her on being our Volunteer of the Month for May 2024. If you are interested in becoming a valuable member of YOUR Humane Society SPCA’s team, there are many ways to help in animal care, fundraising, humane education, administrative duties and more. Complete a volunteer application at hsspca.org/volunteering and see what a positive impact it will have on YOUR life and an animal’s!
