Allison Hendricks is perhaps, one of the most popular personalities at the Peninsula SPCA. With her hair always on a ponytail, Allison is very visible around the shelter, which seems like a second home to her. Who wouldn't, if you've been there for approximately 32 years! Yes, Allison started as a volunteer when she was still in 9th grade, back when she wanted to become a veterinarian. So to make sure she would work with animals, the best way was to volunteer at the SPCA.Allison may not have become a vet, but as the SPCA's Customer Care Manager, she gets to work on adoptions and finding a family for the homeless animals, a job that gets fulfilling every time she sees a family bring home an animal. She also does temperament evaluations of animals together with Kennel Manager Don Branch. To Allison, the reward of the job comes in seeing an animal that came in scared and would try to bite, and thinking that no one will ever adopt it. Then, helping the animal calm down and finding it a loving, hopefully, forever home.
With her long years with the SPCA, Allison has had a lot of memorable experiences and cites three recent ones: First is about King and Queen, two dogs that have stayed in the shelter for about six months. She contacted a rescue group called ART, which took the two canines and was able to place them in a loving home within a few weeks. The shelter received photos and notes of King and Queen on how well they are doing now. Second is Shadow, a mix shepherd dog that reminded Allison of a dog she once had. Shadow came to the shelter very scared and would try to bite the kennel staff. Allison placed Shadow with a rescue group that doesn't have a "shelter environment" since it didn't do well in a cage. And the dog responded positively!
She also recalls the two very think Pit Bulls which were brought to the shelter due to cruelty cases. "We did an evaluation on them - SWEET dogs, but no one was interested because they looked so bad. A lady, who has been a supporter of the shelter for years, came in and I jokingly told her she needed to take at least one of these dogs home. She looked at them and the next day, came back and adopted one, and found a home for the other. As the saying goes, 'Saving one animal will not change the world, but it changes the world for that one animal," said Allison.
When not at the shelter (which is likely not that often), Allison likes to spend her free time reading fictional books about lawyers or about the medical field. She also plays in her iris garden during summer, and of course, she enjoys spending time with her pets Spot, a Calico; Sadie, a Bull Dog-Sharpei mix; and Kimber, a mixed breed that came into the shelter as a starving almost dead pup.
Allison has this to say to the volunteers: "Stick with it, even when sometimes, the staff is not at all that friendly. When I first started as a volunteer, the lady in the front office was not very nice - I don't think she liked many people at all at the time - I kept being nice to her and she came around and we still see each other 32 years later. It's not the people you're here for - it's the animals and they make it all worthwhile!"
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