July 22, 2004

Volunteer of the Week: Denise Lloyd
                
By Jeanne C. Lewis
Staff Writer

As a young child growing up in Eureka, Calif., Denise Lloyd, her five sisters and one brother pleaded with their parents for a pet of their own. Their mother and father believed that animals were for outside, not for indoors. Their begging went unabated until she reached 17 and the children were allowed to present their dad with a puppy, Jessie, for Father’s Day. Jesse stole everyone’s heart in the family.

Now, Lloyd is a volunteer for Safe Haven’s Animal Sanctuary [SHAS] foster program, bringing animals into her home that have been rescued until they are ready to be adopted. Her current charges are a litter from a feral mother cat that has now been spayed and returned to her undomesticated population to live out life once the kittens are weaned. Out of her litter of five that Lloyd fostered, four have been adopted at the SHAS Adoption Fair at Pet Land on Snell Avenue. One remains—Rupert—who has been paired with another kitten, ChaCha, of the same age for companionship. Lloyd brings her kittens to the pet fairs and likes to talk to the potential adopters. She is also counted on by other volunteer fosterers to look in on their cats when they are out of town.

“I think of all the kitties we save,” Lloyd said while nuzzling her two charges in an extra bedroom where she has all the necessary accruements for the felines. “If an unfixed cat has several litters a year and the offspring have kittens, the numbers are incredible. Even if we save one cat at a time, it’s worth it. Safe Haven has a good screening process and when they find homes it is usually for life. It makes my investment worth it.”

SHAS began three years ago. Dedicated volunteers open their homes to orphaned cats and kittens until they are ready to be adopted, supplying them with food, socialization skills and veterinarian visits for spaying or neutering.

The organization also has its own sanctuary on loaned property for cats that are unadoptable. Phase 1 has been completed in the no-kill facility for cats; other buildings are in the plan for additional types of animals and inquires are being conducted for a permanent location.

Besides the in-home care, SHAS volunteers specialize in feeding, trapping, spay/neuter and release of feral cats. The undomesticated cats have lived in the wild so long that they would never make good house pets. Devoted SHAS volunteers care for them and break the kitten cycle.

“Denise is a wonderful foster home and very dedicated.” Diane Cascia, Pet Fair Coordinator for SHAS said. “She fostered a special-needs kitten for us in the past. The kitten had leukemia and later retested negative. She is very supportive of the cat rescue community and even helps feed feral cats.”

After graduating from college, Lloyd moved to San Jose, married Kevin and the young couple moved to Almaden Valley eight years ago. The pair has three rescued cats, Sonic, Beezer and Blondie, who share their home. Besides her work with the SHAS cats, she works full time at Hitachi as an environmental engineer. She is an avid gardener, which sparked other volunteering opportunities.

Environmental concerns
Lloyd also volunteers for Our City Forests, whose mission is to cultivate a greener, healthier urban environment and a renewed sense of community by involving Silicon Valley residents in the understanding, planting and care of the urban forest. The group provides an array of tree planting and related services and also provides free trees and materials through special grants. Since 1994, Our City Forest has given away over 22,000 15-gallon shade trees. Lloyd has become a Tree Amigo by completing many hours of training, with recent plantings near the fire station on Camden Avenue. She especially enjoys assisting tree plantings for seniors.

“I am fortunate to be able to work and do things in my own neighborhood.” Lloyd said about her philanthropic activities.

Lloyd’s other passion is the County of Santa Clara Master Composters and she has been certified to conduct composting workshops, respond to citizens’ questions and talk about the program at community events. The educational program teaches county residents how to start and maintain a home compost system for their landscape, garden and food wastes. She is looking forward to presenting composting methods to school children, creating awareness of the environmental benefits.

Lloyd has also been involved in creek and trail cleanups, an interest began by attending Santa Clara County Trail Days and her enthusiasm for a cleaner, healthier environment.

“If I could win the lottery, I would do volunteering all the time.” Lloyd said.
Let’s hope she does. The earth would be a better place.

—By Jeanne C. Lewis

For more information on volunteering and donations call Safe Haven Animal Sanctuary (408) 420-SAFE or go to www.safehavenanimalsanctuary.org.

To see Rupert, ChaCha and other animals available, visit the Pet Adoption Fair the first three Saturdays of each month at Pet Club, 5625 Snell Avenue, San Jose (408) 363-6068.

For more information on Our City Forests go to www.ourcityforest.org or call (408) 99-TREES.

For more information on the Santa Clara Master Composter program, e-mail compost@pln.sccgov.org or call (408) 918-4640.