It’s not every day that a volunteer graduates to an Animal Ambassador! This weekend, Mellissa Goldman became our latest Animal Ambassador. Animal Ambassadors are volunteers who have been with the Humane Society of Ventura County for over a year and wish to help out more, such as assisting customers, and making play groups with our dogs.

Mellissa has been volunteering since 2013 and comes every Saturday to work with some of our most needy dogs. Mellissa focuses her attention on dogs that are extremely shy or scared, been here the longest, or just need that extra TLC. 

Mellissa originally started volunteering after losing one of her cats. She decided to volunteer with us after learning we are a compassionate care shelter and fell in love with our cats and dogs. Melissa soon found her favorite thing to do was work with the dogs and cats that needed extra attention. It really made her day to see those shy animals starting to trust again and she loves to see them get adopted into forever homes, “It’s awesome! I wish it was my real job!”.

One of Mellissa’s favorite success stories was the recent adoption of Sequoia, a Great Dane/Shepherd mix who had been at the shelter for almost 2 years. Mellissa was one of the volunteers who worked every week with Sequoia to help her grow more accustomed to the shelter and overcome her fears and insecurities. When Sequoia got adopted, Mellissa was overjoyed. Mellissa says her favorite animal is now a three-way tie between Cally the long haired domestic cat, Bella the Norfolk Terrier mix, and Gabby the Boston Terrier mix.

When asked what she would say to anyone interested in volunteering, Mellissa said, “You should. It’s a lot of fun and very fulfilling. Come up!” Our volunteers make all the difference in these animals’ lives and Mellissa has certainly improved the lives of hundreds of our animals.

The HSVC could not be who we are without the help of our volunteers. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, please contact our Volunteer Coordinator at (805)646-6505x110 or by email at [email protected].