GAIL

Please tell us a little bit about yourself

We arrived in Kenmare full-time 6 years ago, my husband and me and our 3 cats, after retiring from Cork. I have always had a love for animals and grew up with cats, guinea pigs and a dog, briefly. In my late forties I had the opportunity to do a 2-year full-time course in Cork city in Animal Management, and I loved the experience of those 2 years.

What made you decide to become a volunteer with an animal rescue charity?

On the morning of my last exam, while driving to the city, I came across an injured hedgehog on the road, and that experience led to being involved in hedgehog rescue and rehabilitation for the following ten years.

How do you volunteer with KLAWS?

Having retired from Cork and now in Kenmare I knew in myself that at some stage I would want to get involved in some sort of voluntary role relating to animals. I was aware of the KLAWS shop, but I wasn’t sure at the time whether working in a shop was what I was looking for. 

It took the loss of 2 of our 3 elderly cats to bring me to the point of thinking maybe I would approach the shop and see if I might volunteer there.

And as they say, the rest is history, as I am now into my fourth-year volunteering with KLAWS. It has been a journey, one that has led me to become more involved with the charity, and more surprisingly to myself, I am currently chairing the committee.

What would you say to someone who is perhaps thinking about volunteering with KLAWS but maybe feels like the shop is not the right fit for them?

There are other roles in KLAWS you could get involved with, fostering, home checks, fundraising, social media etc, have a look on the website and see where you feel drawn to. Contact details are on the KLAWS website, or you could call into the shop and make contact with Catharina, who is the manager.

What have been the high and low points of your time as a volunteer?

As with any role working in a shop there are times that can be challenging, but I am glad I took that step to get involved as I feel that I have grown from the experience.

For me the highlights of working in the shop has been getting to know other volunteers as well as people in the town that I would never have met if I hadn’t started there.

Also, one of the great pleasures for me is that dogs are allowed in the shop, and I always find that animals always make you smile, so I love that.

*The two pictures are of a Japanese Chin dog that accompanied its owner into the shop. Much to my pleasure, I was left holding the dog while the owner had a browse around😊