Congratulations to April’s Volunteer Spotlight, Cheryl Zajd!

Cheryl has been a volunteer with Regional since Marchish of 2013 after adopting Abby. She is married to Husband Nick and they have twin newborn girls, Marzanna and Devana, 2 months old.  Cheryl also has Regional Alumni Abby age 12 (dog), Socks 13 (cat), and Regional Alumni Murdock age 6 (cat).  Cheryl works at Albany Medical College as a Lab Manager/Science Nerd since 2002. She’s Treasurer and tech support for the shelter and has worn many hats during her time at Regional.

We asked Cheryl to tell us something most people would not know about herself, and she said “Most things don’t phase me, except spiders, especially when indoors. Nope, no thanks, please stay outside, or I’ll get the flamethrower. *shudder*”

We asked Cheryl what made her decide to volunteer? “I showed up the help shovel after a snowstorm and y’all never kicked me out. But seriously, volunteering has always been something I’ve done (it costs you nothing, but time and you’re paid back in ways that are priceless!) and once I found Regional I knew I found my people and a cause very near and dear to my heart, and I love what I do.”

Cheryl said “So many moments are surrounded by laughter it’s really hard to pick just one best or funniest moment, especially with our awesome volunteer family. But the best thing ever is getting to see all of the animals that spend time at Regional going into their forever homes and thriving. There’s no better feeling, even if the goodbyes (or see ya soons) are hard sometimes – but at least we all ugly cry tears of joy as a group. The second best is getting my face licked off by Pilot – love my pitterman <3.”

We asked Cheryl what the best part of volunteering at Regional is and she said “Besides the work we do of giving animals a better life? Definitely the people. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting many of our fabulous community members throughout the years, but our volunteers are a special group of really amazing humans.”

Hey Cheryl, what would you tell someone who was thinking about volunteering? “Do it do it do it do it do it!!! It doesn’t matter if you work at the shelter with the dogs, join a committee to help Get Things Done[tm] (like our events or building planning committees!), or help out with the super important behind-the-scenes aspects of running the shelter – everyone can do something and it’s all important work.  This group has come so far in the past 20 years since we were founded and even more in the past 10 since we opened our doors. The three women who founded Regional had a vision, and the volunteers both past and present built on that vision of how they wanted to help Regional help animals, and our amazing community has been with us every step of the way. We have so many awesome things coming up that I know I’m really excited about that have been years in the making, and they’re going to have a tremendous impact on the animals in our community and the people that love them. There’s no better time to join the Regional family – nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something, and all it takes is a little of your time.” 

Join Cheryl and the Regional family by applying to volunteer today!