Volunteers of the Month single view | PAWS Chicago

Carol Curt


Pre-pandemic, Carol was regularly at the Medical Center working with our Level 3 dogs, attending workshops and mentoring new volunteers. Once the pandemic began, Carol found creative ways to continue helping PAWS! Carol has helped us bring tons of PAWS animals to specialty vet appointments, sometimes driving hours away, waiting for the pet to be seen, then returning the animal to the Medical Center. She also signs up for multiple Intake Trips each month, meeting our rescue partners to transfer animals and welcome them to PAWS. She’s an absolute delight to have around and has continued supporting animals that need our help. We thank you, Carol, for all the time you’ve spent helping homeless animals!   

1. How long have you been a volunteer at PAWS Chicago and what made you decide to volunteer? 

I’ve been volunteering at PAWS since 2016. Some years earlier, I had read about PAWS No Kill mission and felt very in tune with the values espoused. I knew I wanted to help out, though I waited until I left a demanding job and then saw my own dog through his final illness. My dog brought so much to my life, I wanted to make sure others had a chance to have a good life, too.  

2. Which PAWS programs do you volunteer with? What’s your favorite way you help PAWS and why? 

I started out volunteering at the Lincoln Park Adoption Center, but early on I shifted over to the Medical Center since I was interested in working with the animals who were ill and needed extra care; I’ve been volunteering at the Medical Center ever since. Pre-pandemic, I worked with the general dog population as well as doing TLC and transport. In the past year, I’ve focused on doing intake trips and specialty vet trips.  

I really enjoy doing the intake and vet trips. I know that not many people can take the time needed to do these trips, so I feel fortunate that I’m able to help out this way. On the intake trips, we get to be more directly connected to a bigger effort, whether it’s by moving animals from hurricane hit areas like Florida or Louisiana to free up shelter space for animals made homeless by the disaster (the animals we bring to PAWS are those who were already up for adoption at their shelter) or by meeting partners from Tennessee, Oklahoma, Indiana, etc. so we can move animals from high-kill shelters in those states to PAWS where medical care and a life awaits them that they might not otherwise have had. And when I take an animal for medical care at the vet clinic in Aurora, Purdue University, or the University of Illinois at Urbana, I’m always impressed with the lengths that PAWS will go to to help an animal live the best life possible. I'm glad to be part of these efforts.   

3. What’s special about the PAWS No Kill mission to you? What inspires you to have a heart for animal welfare? 

I’m impressed by the multi-prong approach that PAWS takes to animal welfare. PAWS doesn’t just offer pets for adoption – PAWS is tackling the root causes of pet homelessness, addresses both the medical and behavioral needs of each pet so that s/he can become and stay part of a loving family, and provides services to adopter families so that they can care for and keep their loving pets.    

4. What’s your favorite story about your time at PAWS and why? 

The PAWS experience that stays with me the most recurs each time I’m at PAWS. Inevitably, some dog will look me right in the eye and that look will go straight to my heart.  

5. What are three things you would tell someone who’s interested in becoming a PAWS volunteer?

Volunteering at PAWS will be one of the most fulfilling things you will do in your life. When I get home after working a shift at PAWS, I immediately want to go back and do more. There are a lot of different things you can do as a volunteer at PAWS; if you attend a PAWS volunteer orientation, you will hear about all that PAWS does, all the varied ways volunteers can help out, and you can see where your interests lead you.