June 2020 Volunteer Spotlight: Dale Beucler
Dale has been part of Animal Friends Alliance since 2018 and initially started volunteering with his wife Jean and daughter Anna, who is now our Community Pet Resources Manager! Dale and his family initially heard of our organization via family connections since Jean is friends with Sarah Swanty’s mother. Dale, Jean and Anna also adopted a working cat from us to live in their barn. Dale started volunteering in shelter cat care and then moved on to help with animal transports and our Kibble Supply program.
Dale is originally from Los Angeles but has lived in Fort Collins since he and Jean moved here in 1978 so that Dale could work at Hewlett Packard. Dale has a BS degree in Electrical Engineering and has been retired for the past 5 years. When Dale isn’t volunteering he enjoys bicycling, hiking, backpacking and running. He has participated in Ride the Rockies for the past three years. Dale also has plenty of animals at home to keep him busy. Dale’s family has three indoor cats, one barn cat, 2 horses and a rotating number of foster cats! Dale and his wife Jean also love to travel and are hoping to take a trip to the Dolomite mountains in Italy this summer.
At Animal Friends Alliance Dale is one of the most dedicated Kibble Supply volunteers we have, showing up to distribute food rain or shine! He says that working with Kibble Supply clients is such a memorable and rewarding experience “because most of the clients are so appreciative.” Our Kibble Supply program, which is run by Dale’s daughter and one of our staff members, Anna, is an amazing community resource that helps distribute pet food to people experiencing financial hardship. It’s a program that emphasizes prevention and hopes that by helping people feed their animals we can keep them in their homes and decrease local animal surrenders to shelters. Dale has continued to volunteer for Kibble Supply distribution days twice a month during the pandemic and we can’t say thank you enough since many families are struggling more than ever to make ends meet.
Our mission, “to provide comprehensive companion animal resources, services, and education to the community to prevent homelessness and promote the human-animal bond” is something that Dale says he is passionate about and “strongly supports through donations of time and funds.” Dale participates in many aspects of our volunteer program and is an amazing example of someone who is passionate about their community by dedicating their time and hard work to so many of our programs and services.
Thank you Dale for your incredible volunteer service and commitment to the mission & vision of Animal Friends Alliance. We appreciate and honor you!