At the May Wildlife Rehabilitation Center (MWRC), it is a team effort to provide medical care to injured wildlife, raise orphaned babies, and work alongside resident ambassadors to educate the public on wildlife biology and conservation. Our volunteers play a crucial role in the work of wildlife rehabilitation and the successes for the animals would not be the same without their generous service. Our volunteers provide remarkable support to the center and our wild neighbors by assisting in transporting patients, preparing food, managing laundry, and feeding babies. Each of our volunteers provides a unique skill set and valued presence at the center, and they all are highly revered and appreciated by students and staff alike.
We would like to highlight the work of one volunteer in particular who has gone above and beyond in her volunteer work for the MWRC for over ten years. Charlene “Char” Walker has earned her special place in everyone’s hearts by being an exceptionally hard worker for the animals and a source of light and laughter for all who surround her. Char is gifted with creativity and uses her creative skills to specially design and build enclosures for the diverse set of species that we see in the clinic. She can create “hummingbird boxes” with holes fit for nectar syringes, heat lamp boxes that keep the animals warm and safe, and perching that maintains patients’ health and comfort. Caging is a huge part of wildlife rehabilitation; an animal’s enclosure is their environment and heavily influences their health and happiness. Char’s hard work in providing safe and healthy enclosures for the patients and ambassador animals has played a crucial role in enriching their lives and maintaining their health. She also uses her skills and resourcefulness to repair and transform older or damaged enclosures to keep them safe and up to date for our animals’ needs. Char’s expertise and service does not stop here, for she is also known to reliably assist MWRC’s veterinarians, maintain special equipment such as the autoclave, assist in ambassador care, and rescue, triage, and transport patients. She is vastly multitalented, and her contributions are structural to MWRC, enhancing the lives of thousands of animals for over a decade. The impact of her work cannot be overstated. Char is a cherished friend and special presence to both humans and animals at the MWRC, and her attitude and work vastly enriches the lives of all who meet her. Her compassion for and connection to wildlife is an inspiration, and MWRC is incredibly thankful to have Char on the team.
Each of the volunteers at MWRC has a uniquely significant impact on the center and the care provided to the animals, which is widely recognized and deeply appreciated. A few more examples of volunteers who have made outstanding contributions to our work with wildlife include Tina and Robert, who provide a great service in raising Virginia opossums to release weight so that the orphaned babies may have a second chance at a life in the wild. Diane McAlonan is an astoundingly gentle and compassionate friend to both humans and animals, especially the songbirds, in the center. She is known by many for her hard work in the songbird room and outdoor enclosures, and for her impressive management of the never-ending work in the laundry room to ensure the animals have clean, cozy bedding. Nancy Riggsbee brought a huge relief to the bustling songbird room in the summer by feeding and caring for tens of baby songbirds simultaneously. We have reliable and dedicated transporters that are a huge help in getting injured and orphaned animals the help they need, some being Marshall Ashcraft, Kara Bush, Bob Kaiser, Jennifer Beck, Ciara Duncan, and others. We, at the May Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, would like to express our sincerest gratitude for our hard-working, compassionate volunteers who generously serve wildlife and show inspiring dedication to the support and healing of our wild neighbors.