VALLEY ANIMAL CENTER

Sam and Piper Horton are a mother-daughter super duo! Sam has been teaching middle school since 2006! With the recent changes to teaching due to COVID-19, Sam has learned to go along with the flow for her students. She enjoys reading, crafting and hanging out with the cats at Valley Animal Center. Piper loves horses and is a barrel racer. Barrel racing is an equestrian sport where racers and their horses compete to run around…

Brian Lloyd is one of the only volunteers at Valley Animal Center who assists staff with pet adoptions. Brian loves being around animals and enjoys doing a variety of tasks at the Dog Adoption Center. Whether it’s washing dishes, cleaning kennels, doing laundry, or socializing some of the shelter dogs, Brian is someone our staff members can count on. He enjoys working alongside our dog care supervisor, Ruben Cantu, and animal care associate, Maegan Wesson.…

Arthur “Art” O’Brien is probably one of Valley Animal Center’s most dedicated volunteers! Prior to receiving his own set of keys, Art said he used to climb over the fence when the facility was closed for the holidays to give the cats food and water. Art is retired and began his volunteer journey at Valley Animal Center when the facility first opened at 3934 N. Hayston Ave. He originally volunteered at the Cat Adoption Center seven days…

Lorenzo Martinez Santos is a very goal-driven individual who gets a kick out of volunteering at Valley Animal Center! Lorenzo is an avid soccer player and has been volunteering at Valley Animal Center for 10 years now. “I love it here,” Lorenzo said. “I love the dogs and volunteering helps me with my stress.” Recently, Lorenzo worked in Pasadena for Sriracha but returned to Fresno due to COVID-19. He’s taken courses at Community Media Access…

Kim Thurman, a retired RN, loves dogs. Unfortunately, right before her retirement, she lost her beloved 14-year-old dog. Heartbroken and sad, but not ready for a new pet, Kim decided to volunteer at Valley Animal Center to fill the void her dog left behind. Kim has been with Valley Animal Center since 2017 (four years!) and is a Level 4 volunteer. She walks dogs during her time here and enjoys how she is able to…

Before she retired as a Fresno State professor, Robin was already looking for places she could volunteer for post-retirement. Through a service learning fair, she found Valley Animal Center, formerly known as California Feline Foundation, and has been with us since 2015. That’s 6 years! We can’t thank her enough. Robin had been a volunteer for our Cat Adoption Center where she took care of the cats and did outreach work, getting the word out…

If Justin James Foster could volunteer at Valley Animal Center every day, he would! For having just celebrated his 18th birthday on April 11th, Justin has already made a big impact on the community; he’s been volunteering at Valley Animal Center for two years now and enjoys every minute of it. Justin first learned about Valley Animal Center from his stepsister, Maegan Wesson, one of our animal care associates. In addition to working with Maegan,…