When Suanne McManus retired from the corporate world, she knew she wanted to get involved with helping animals. Four years ago, she was shopping at Whole Foods when a DAWS outreach table caught her eye. After a quick chat, she was given an application to complete and the rest was history. Suanne began her journey at DAWS as a cat socializer before becoming a Team Lead, Adoption Counselor, and our shelter Community Outreach Coordinator.

“Suanne truly serves as an asset to our organization. Her bright personality and kind nature has been a gift, not only to our animals, but to the rest of us volunteers,” exclaims Jaclyn Gartner, DAWS’ Social Media Coordinator. “We work closely together managing all our community events by running the marketing table and she is always such a joy to be around!”

“The best part of being a member of the DAWS family is working with all of the volunteers. We all share the same mission and that is to find the perfect home for our fur babies,” Suanne explains. She especially loves working with cats that need extra socialization before they can be adopted. This is certainly not an easy feat and one must have a lot of patience. “DAWS has given me the opportunity to share my unconditional love for the cats, as well as receiving the same in return from them. It’s incredibly rewarding.”

Suanne adopted her cat, Thomas, from DAWS before becoming a “foster fail” and adopting Lucy, an adorable beagle. “I would take all of them home if I could, but my husband says we are at our limit…but where there is a will, there is a way (just don’t tell him)! For those who are looking to volunteer with their local animal shelter, or DAWS, Suanne says, “it will change your life for the better – do it.”