Photo by Annie Hewitt / Getty Images
National Volunteer Week is April 18-24 this year, and The Fur-Bearers is celebrating the volunteers who make our work possible! We’ll never have enough space to thank everyone, but please meet some of our amazing volunteers below. We also encourage you to take a moment to thank the folks in your life who volunteer for any cause.
We asked several of our volunteers why they enjoy volunteering for The Fur-Bearers. Their responses are below:
Natalie Thompson
Volunteer translator (www.frenchreflectiontranslation.ca)
J’ai toujours été sensibilisé à la protection de l’environnement et de la faune. Je pratique la consommation responsable depuis de nombreuses années, en évitant d’acheter des produits d’entreprises qui font encore des tests sur les animaux par exemple, ou qui utilisent des produits composés d’ingrédients chimiques et toxiques pour l’environnement. Un de mes objectifs en devenant traductrice était d’aider la transmission de messages. En plus d’aider plusieurs entreprises à mieux diffuser les valeurs de leurs produits sur le marché francophone canadien, j’ai la chance de faire partie de la grande équipe des Traducteurs sans frontières depuis quelques années. Et depuis peu, j’ai décidé de m’impliquer plus localement avec The Fur-Bearers pour élargir la diffusion de leur message et les aider à sensibiliser la population canadienne à l’effort qu’ils déploient dans la protection de notre trésor faunique.
I’ve always been sensitive to environmental matters and animal protection. I’ve been practicing responsible consumption for many years by avoiding buying products tested on animals for instance, or products containing chemical and toxic components that poison the environment. One of my objectives when I became a translator was to help transmit messages. In addition to helping businesses to market better the value of their products to the French speakers, I also have the honor to be part of Translators Without Borders for the past few years. Recently, I’ve decided to get involved more locally with The Fur-Bearers to spread more widely the message they carry and to help them bring awareness into the Canadien population in their effort to protect our wildlife treasure.
Jeff Phillips
I am a policy and government relations professional passionate about building a more sustainable world. I volunteer with The Fur-Bearers to support their excellent work in advocating for fur bearing animals and protecting wildlife. They help give a voice to the voiceless.
Erin Ryan
I have always had a strong calling to helping animals, big and small. I am particularly passionate about wildlife issues, too often overlooked, though wild animals are vitally important to our lives and ecosystems. Volunteering with the Fur-Bearers is just one way I feel I can make a difference. A long-time supporter of The Fur-Bearers, I am currently sitting a term on the Board of Directors.
Yvonne McLean
I have always had compassion for every living creature, my mother taught me to release spiders back into the garden, not kill them. Volunteering and giving back is also important to me. And it feels good! When I was introduced to The Fur-Bearers, I was taken by their dedication to protecting our heritage wildlife and was inspired to help them in any capacity I could. They are truly dedicated and go above and beyond protecting, conserving, and advocating on behalf of fur-bearing animals in the wild and in confinement. If we all gave back in some way, our planet’s creatures and environment would be in a much happier place. Thank you, The Fur-Bearers, for all that you do!
Michelle Lee
Volunteer designer (www.broadviewdesign.com)
I’ve loved animals all my life. After going vegetarian at a young age, I got involved in animal activism in my teens – starting with marching at fur protests. Doing volunteer work with The Fur-Bearers reminds me of my animal advocacy roots and why I got involved: wanting to help make a change in how people perceive and treat animals. My activism is a little quieter these days, and I feel honoured to be able to help The Fur-Bearers produce designs and materials that get distributed online and across the country, helping to educate others on the violence of fur farming, the destruction of wildlife habitat, and the importance of learning to coexist with fur-bearing animals.
Christine Pintea
Our world is enriched by the many wonderful animals that are in it. Increasingly though, these animals face more and more challenges and their survival is not necessarily guaranteed. It is, is fact, threatened. When I first learned about The Fur-Bearers, I was very impressed by theirdedication and commitment to eliminating the fur industry in Canada and to preventing unnecessary killing of wild animals in residential areas. By volunteering with this very worthwhile organization, it does me good to think that I might be contributing to the saving of some of those lives.
