Sherri (aka Gilbert) Callahan is KD’s Senior Membership, Foster and Adoption Officer. She has been with us since discovering us on Facebook sometime around August of 2012 and since then she’s been giving KD her all. Sherri works faithfully each day fielding membership, foster and adoption applications. She assists with making calls to the shelter to gather info on intakes and to request extensions. She also helps upload photos and posts updates to the urgent threads on our Facebook page. Sherri also wears many, many other hats “behind the scenes” to support the rescue.
She will be the first to tell you that all of her hard work is solely for the kitties and that she is willing to do whatever it takes to put them first. Her rescue ethics are exceptional and she is a highly valued and essential part of our team.
Thank you, Sherri, for all of your selfless dedication to KD and our mission!
Q: Tell us a little about yourself. What do people find most interesting about you?
I’m boring! (Sherri is far from boring, but she’s going to make us work for it! 😉 )
Q: What was your upbringing like? Did you have lots of pets?
I didn’t have cats or dogs growing up because my mother was afraid of all animals. When I was in my late teens, my brother and I snuck a couple guinea pigs into the house and we were allowed to keep them (and added a rabbit not long after that). I was actually afraid of cats when I was young.
I guess you could say that both my brother and I have made up for not having cats and dogs as kids!
Q: What path led you to your involvement with rescue and ultimately to your Board position with KD?
While all of my own kitties have been rescues, I wasn’t even aware of how shelters and rescues in other areas were run. Our local shelter was no-kill, so I had no idea that others were high-kill—and was completely unaware that some shelters used gas to euthanize animals.
Through Facebook, I met other animal lovers. A small group of us became interested in kitties in a very small shelter in North Carolina that still used the gas chamber. 4 of us banded together and formed our “virtual rescue” that we later named Karma and Kind Hearts, and along with a wonderful woman who runs Nash County Animal Friends, worked to rescue 12 kitties who were to be euthanized.
My interest in rescue blossomed from that point on. My focus was initially on east coast shelters (as I’m from Maryland), but once I saw what was happening in southern CA, I shifted my focus there. It was through Facebook that I learned of Devore Shelter and Kitty Devore Rescue. I had seen things I didn’t like or condone with other rescues, but was impressed with Kitty Devore Rescue’s mission and passion.
I joined KD and volunteered to assist with adoption and foster applications and from there, I’ve taken on some other “duties”.
Q: What would you like your legacy to be?
I am outspoken and speak my mind—even when my opinions are not that of others in the rescue community. If I am to be remembered for anything in rescue, I would like it to be that I put the cats first and will fight for what I believe to be in the best interest of the cats.
Q: Where can we find you when you’re not busy with your KD Board duties?
Much of my “free time” is spent doing KD-related duties. Aside from that, I’m a home-body and workaholic, so I can be found at home in the evenings, cuddling with my kitties and doing work for my job.
Are you interested in volunteering with KD?
We are always in need of volunteers to donate their time to our cause by fostering, assisting with big adoption events, pulling, transporting, etc.
If working with KD sounds like something for you head on over to our website and fill out an application today!