June 03, 2015
Donna is an Accounts Receivable Specialist who recently relocated from our San Diego office to Colorado. She’s been quite active in OtterCares events in both offices and is a wonderful champion for our mission and giving back. Read more below about Donna’s favorite volunteer activities:
Why did you become an OtterCares Ambassador: To learn more about Otter Products and OtterCares, plus I love to know what volunteer opportunities there are.
Why do you volunteer? My dogs…yes all of my dogs came from a foster home/shelter and I saw what need they had for not only foster families but for even simple things like blankets, food etc. I also volunteer because I love giving back to the community and especially love being involved in my family’s activities. I have had so much help through the years from others in my own life; I feel it is now time for me to give back to my community. I really enjoy helping with animals because I feel they are so misunderstood. Many people cannot afford formal training and I have found that people who were adopting the dogs from the Humane Society were often bringing them back due to the dog’s lack of training so I worked with the director to try and stop that from happening by giving new owners opportunities for basic training at no charge.
Describe a volunteer activity you have been involved in that relates to the OtterCares purpose: I help at my Granddaughters school as “classroom assistant” and also for field trips to the museums, Zoo or LEGOLAND. I also volunteered for “Career Day” to explain to the class what my job is and even shared some reasons why math is so important for future careers. I always say “keep your minds open to be anything you want to be”….and often tell them they are only limited by their own imagination. 
Describe your favorite volunteer activity: I love working with animals! I have volunteered for Hidden Valley Obedience Club in Escondido California and am a certified American Kennel Club Canine Good Citizen (CGC) Instructor and Evaluator. I helped teach the Canine Good Citizen class for the last 7 years. Puppy class was always my favorite! Young dogs are just like young children, they learn very fast at a young age. Early socialization is so vitally important. I very much enjoyed working with dog owners privately also with different issues they needed help with. I also volunteered at the Escondido Humane Society walking the dogs, cleaning the cages, playing with the kittens and on Saturday mornings I would teach a small class of owners that adopted dogs about Canine Good Citizen training and help them with their individual issues with their dogs. Adopted dogs can come from a variety of backgrounds and may have very different difficulties that need to be addressed to make them a social part of the family unit.
Why do you think the OtterCares purpose is important? Because it shows the youth about giving back to the community is so important and gives them confidence for entrepreneurship that their ideas can be important and BIG!!