Susan has been a foster volunteer at the Arizona Animal Welfare League longer than any other staff member has been around. We didn't even have electronic reporting at the time she started so our reports are a bit off, but we estimate that in the 14+ years she has been a foster volunteer she has fostered more than 600 dogs/puppies with us! When she first started she was our ONLY foster parent that would take puppies.
To make it even better, she was, and still is one of a select few foster parents that will take on entire litters of puppies with their moms. This means that at any given time Susan is fostering between approx. 6-10 puppies and their mama for almost 2 months. And guess what? When the litter is getting older and ready to come back to the shelter, Susan is gearing up to get ready to take on another set of fosters – she hates having down time. When Susan and her husband travel up north for vacation time, she makes her (super understanding) husband drive a separate car so he can drive their dogs and she can drive the foster dogs – that way even the foster pups get a vacation! Its well-known that Susan’s dogs come back fat, happy, and very well socialized – you can easily spot a “Van Wormer Puppy” from the second it hits the adoption floor. Beyond all of this, Susan is such a joy to work with. She always comes in with a smile, helps around the shelter where needed, and stays positive about the hardest of shelter circumstances. We feel so lucky to have such a kind, caring, compassionate and dedicated foster volunteer as part of our AAWL family for so long.
