Featured Volunteer: Dawn Beavis

“Last year I got really lucky. My husband agreed that I could give up work, on the condition that I found stuff to do that would keep me busy. And more importantly find things to do to keep me out of the mall!

I had worked for many years at the Peninsula Humane Society. It was an easy decision to continue there as a volunteer .

But I had more time to fill.

I shot Keith an email early one morning asking about volunteer opportunities at Coastside Hope, and found myself being trained that very afternoon!! I don’t have a regular front desk spot, but I cover shifts when the regular volunteer is off – I love the unpredictability – sometimes I am there twice a week, sometimes once, and sometimes nothing for a couple of weeks ( that’s when I start nagging Keith for more shifts!!) I am so full of admiration for what the folks at Coastside Hope provide for our less well off neighbors. It is so heart warming to see someone really down on their luck come into the office and leave an hour later with a smile on their face, several bagfuls of food, information regarding all the programs that are available to them to make their lives just a little bit easier. I feel very fortunate to be a small part of this wonderful organisation

So you will see me at the front desk, but you also stand a very good chance of running into me on the beach, checking on injured seals or sea lions, as part of my other volunteer work with The Marine Mammal center!

So between Coastside Hope, Peninsula Humane Society and The Marine Mammal center I am definitely not spending any time at the mall – or the grocery store for that matter!! “