Congratulation to Toni Muzzi for being chosen as January’s Volunteer spotlight!

Toni has been married to her husband Tim for 35 years. She has two children, Mathew 33yrs and his girlfriend Amber – parents of her grandson Ryland and grand pups Rosco and Lily and Aaron 31yrs and his wife Kristelle – Doggie Parents to her other grand pup Thoros formerly Koda (Regional Alum).  Toni also has fur baby Buster, a 6yr old pocket pittie also adopted from Regional in February 2017.

 

Toni works from home for her brother’s company QoS Networking Inc out of Clifton Park. She has been working there for 17 years and wears several different hats: Office Manager, HR Specialist, Account Manager.

 

Toni has been a volunteer at Regional for 4 years and is the Co-coordinator on the Events Team.  We asked Toni what made her decide to volunteer at Regional. She said “I always wanted to volunteer and work with animals, but what really lead me to be interested in Regional was when our girl Bailey went missing and I don’t know who was on the other end of the FB messages, but they were so supportive, encouraging, and helpful even though I wasn’t a volunteer and Bailey didn’t come from Regional (she was a stray we took in). That meant so much to me, but I think what really pushed me to do it, even though it took a year, was when we adopted Buster from there and Aaron had just adopted Thoros a few months earlier.  The bond that everyone seemed to have and the care for the animals and how thorough they were with the application and meet and greets.  This was something I knew that I wanted to be a part of but I didn’t think that I had the time to do it.  After talking to a few of the volunteers I realized that there were different things I could do with different time commitments, and I could make it work and I am so glad that I did.”

 

We asked Toni what is her funniest or best memory of being a volunteer? “I think the funniest memory has to be Cinnamon the pig…I never imagined I would be caring for a pig.  It was a trip, but I learned new things caring for her.  Fortunately, she didn’t like me as much as Crystal!  And that is another great thing about Regional, we weren’t equipped to take in a pig, but we didn’t say “NO”. We learned as we went along and made it work and she ended up in a great home!”

 

In Toni’s opinion the best part about being a volunteer with Regional is “the family atmosphere along with great training and leadership. Also, the satisfaction of seeing all the pups find their furever homes and knowing that I was a part of helping them become their best self so that this was possible.”

 

We asked Toni what she would tell someone who was thinking about volunteering “Just do it!  Don’t wait!  There are so many ways to be a part of the team.  I wish that I had started sooner.”

 

Thank you Toni Muzzi for your dedication to the animals of Regional and for being a part of the family!

 

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