SPCA salutes Gibsons volunteer

April 12, 2010. For immediate release.

Call it "Extreme Makeover: SPCA Edition."

Gibsons dog lovers Karen and Derek Holland pulled out all the stops when they fostered a Great Dane mix named Jade and her nine one-week-old puppies for the BC SPCA Sunshine Coast Branch.

They renovated their entire basement, including pulling up carpet and adding walls to reveal a doggie nursery complete with a puppy feeding station, areas for playing, sleeping and puppy training, and a partitioned refuge area where Jade could get away periodically from her large and demanding litter.

"I guess we must have had a weak moment, but honestly it was an easy choice," says Karen. "The mom wasn't doing well at the shelter and we wanted to help."

As the puppies grew, Karen and Derek naturally became attached to them. But they were also aware that no home renovation project in the world would make it possible to keep them. "It's easier when you know that you can't keep nine Great Dane puppies."

Karen recently fostered three mixed breed puppies who were tossed in a garbage bin in the B.C. Interior in the middle of winter when they were just hours old. Someone had witnessed four puppies being thrown into the can and called police, but by the time police arrived, one of the puppies was already dead.

Police found the mother dog, named Gracie, running at large, and reunited her with the puppies. All the dogs were brought to the SPCA's Kamloops Branch, then transferred to the Sunshine Coast when Karen agreed to foster them.

"They were basically thrown away like garbage," says Karen. "It was tragic and it didn't need to happen."

Karen is one of the BC SPCA's 4,000 volunteers across the province. In addition to fostering dogs and puppies for the local shelter, she chairs her branch's community council, which under the SPCA's governance structure as a non-profit society is responsible for the branch's strategic goals and initiatives, from mission work and advocacy programs to fundraising and humane education.

Between heading up the community council and fostering puppies, Karen also manages the branch's website and blog, takes photos of the adoptable animals and writes their heartrending adoption profiles, to the tune of about 25 volunteer hours a week. Somehow, she finds time to work full-time as an administrative assistant at Howe Sound Pulp & Paper in Port Mellon.

"She's an amazing person," says branch manager Shannon Broderick. "One way or another, she has positively touched the lives of hundreds of animals."

Karen began volunteering in 1994 helping with the shelter's annual Pet Photos with Santa fundraiser. Over time, her role expanded to include dog walking and cat care, and later into the many hats she wears today. Her husband, Derek, also helps out by ferrying animals back and forth between the Sunshine Coast and Lower Mainland shelters to increase their chances of adoption.

"My passion is getting the animals noticed," says Karen. "We're lucky on the Sunshine Coast - people are supportive of the SPCA and just fantastic about giving our animals a second chance. My wish is that people continue to support the SPCA and give homes to these wonderful animals."

The BC SPCA salutes volunteers like Karen during National Volunteer Week April 18 to 24.

BC SPCA branches, shelters and animal care centres are always looking for new volunteers. Visit spca.bc.ca/volunteer.

Photo Caption: Dedicated volunteer Karen Holland and friend

For more information:

Melissa Major, coordinator of volunteers, BC SPCA, 604-681-7271.

The BC SPCA is a non-profit organization funded primarily by public donations. Our mission is to prevent cruelty and to promote the welfare of animals through a wide range of services, including cruelty investigations, emergency rescue and treatment, sheltering and adoption of homeless and abused animals, humane education, advocacy, farm animal welfare, spay/neuter programs, and wildlife rescue and rehabilitation.