Furry Friends shelters and cares for the cats and kittens as long as it takes to find them forever homes.
Furry Friends recently announced changes to its Board of Directors. Furry Friends is a 501c3 nonprofit no-kill cat rescue serving Clark County and adjacent counties. Founded in 1999, the all-volunteer organization rescues and adopts out homeless, relinquished, and abused cats.
Furry Friends shelters and cares for the cats and kittens as long as it takes to find them forever homes. The organization provides medical exams, medications, spay/neuter, food, and litter for up to 250 cats each year.
The following changes were recently made to the Board of Directors:
Jaimie Garver
Jaimie Garver has just become the president of Furry Friends, replacing Jennifer Hart. Her duties include overseeing the entire operation and financial health of Furry Friends.
“Two of my biggest passions in life are volunteering and cats, so it is amazing to find a place where I can combine them both into one,’’ Garver said. “Any day you can get some volunteering done while you pet a cat is a good day in my book. Some other places I volunteer with include Habitat for Humanity, Share of Vancouver, and local homeless shelters. I truly believe that through volunteer work we can make a big impact within our community.”
In addition to Garver’s volunteer work, she also works full time as the chief executive officer with Portland Local 8 Federal Credit Union which gives her the opportunity to serve her community and labor oriented membership every day. Working for a credit union not only allows her the opportunity to utilize her extensive financial experience and education, it also allows her to live her passion, which is making a difference in the communities that she serves.
Garver has a Bachelors of Science Degree in Business Management from Western Governors University, earned in 2016. She completed her bachelor’s degree in one year, all while working full time and running a small business. Her passion for her work and community shows in the dedication that she applies to all aspects of her life.
Margie McGhee
Margie McGhee has taken the positions of secretary and treasurer for Furry Friends. She has served several nonprofits in the past 25 years in many capacities, primarily financial but other roles as well. She served as treasurer for four weekend-long spiritual conferences with attendance of 500-2,000. This included managing the conference budget, assisting the various committees with creating and adhering to their budgets, ensuring they were fiscally responsible and ended with excess. Additionally, she has served as the corporate treasurer for conferences, with an administrative annual budget of approximately $150,000 and conference budgets of $40,000-100,000.
In addition to her volunteer work, she also owns a cat boarding facility in Vancouver called Cats Play While You’re Away.
Dena Hugh
Dana Hugh has been volunteering with Furry Friends for five years now. In that time she has been a foster parent for 88 cats and kittens. She has also performed other duties for the organization. With so much fostering experience it makes sense that she should be involved in the leadership for the team of cat and kitten foster parents. She is passionate about helping out the cats and kittens in our community.
In addition to her volunteer work she has been self employed as an independent direct sales consultant. She advertises and sells products; scheduling, organizing, and conducting sales presentations; mailing orders; email, text, and phone correspondence. She also works full-time loading and unloading trucks on the docks for the Post Office.
Julie Goldbeck
Julie Goldbeck is the newest member of the Furry Friends Board of Directors. She has been volunteering with Furry Friends for five years. Goldbeck has worked shifts at the Furry Friends adoption center and Halfway House; she also maintains the Amazon Wish list, orders cat food and serves on the Halfway House committee.
When asked why she volunteers for Furry Friends Goldbeck said, “I volunteer at Furry Friends because I want to help vulnerable cats find a permanent home.”
Goldbeck holds a Master’s degree from City University and works as a substitute teacher. She also volunteers for the Daughters of the American Revolution as their chapter librarian. Her hobbies include reading, watching public television and political news programs.
Goldbeck says, “It’s important to volunteer to improve our community for everyone. For what affects one of us affects all of us”.
About Furry Friends
The board is composed of select volunteers who oversee the activities of Furry Friends. The members of the board are responsible for governing the organization, approving budgets, approving an organization’s policies and other similar tasks. Board members have an obligation of allegiance, care and duty to Furry Friends. They seek to fulfill the Furry Friends mission statement by providing advice and implementing long-term goals that will assist Furry Friends in planning for the future and creating the vision of what it will become.
