VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — I went out to Virginia Beach to visit the Hope for Life Rescue Center where they rescue abandoned, abused, and neglected animals. That’s where we highlighted one very special volunteer who spends all her free time at the center because she says it's her therapy.
“This is literally, like, the puppy room,” said Wendy Hatfield, a volunteer at Hope for Life Rescue, as she showed me around. “And I always have a different laundry assistant here.”
Hatfield has volunteered at Hope for Life Rescue for the last two years.
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“I'm like, OCD. I'm kind of... a neat freak,” she said and she organized supplies at the center. “So, I'm always making sure that they go... the right way. And in a couple hours, it won't look like this.”
“She comes in every minute she's available,” Pauline Cushman, Hope for Life’s director and founder, told me. “If she has a day off, she's here. If she doesn't have to go until one o'clock, she's here in the morning. If she gets off at one o'clock in the afternoon, she's here in the afternoon. She just loves being here.”
“We rescue abandoned, abused and neglected cats and dogs we take from several different states,” said Cushman.
The nonprofit operates solely on a donation and volunteer basis, which is why the volunteers are so crucial to its mission.
“It's amazing the way they come. They love to be here. They absolutely love to be here. They enjoy it. They come in and they clean, they do laundry, they pick up after the puppies and they just love it. I mean, they absolutely love it. And it was hard to pick one. But Wendy kind of stood out because she is a nurse, and she works a lot at her other job. And yet, she comes here every minute again,” said Cushman.
Hatfield said in addition to finding volunteering therapeutic, she chooses to commit so much time to the center because of the other people working to rescue animals.
“Oh my gosh, I come in here a lot. But I will do whatever I can for this place. Literally, the people that are here are some of my biggest heroes, because this place is 24/7, 365 days a week,” Hatfield told me. “It's like my therapy. I love this place.”
Standing in front of her colorful and beautifully organized closet of leashes and toys, I decided to surprise her for her dedication to the rescue with an Everyday Hero award.
“So, nothing would be in here that doesn't belong in here, right? For the most part?” I asked Hatfield as she organized supplies in the closet.
“Oh yeah, right. Everything belongs in here, it just might not be in its little compartment,” replied Hatfield.
“Because I think that we found something in here earlier," I said to Hatfield as I pulled a framed Everyday Hero award out of the closet. "And we just wanted to present you with our Everyday Hero award!”
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Cushman and other volunteers present cheered her on as we handed her the award.
Wendy was shocked, to say the least! And had no idea we were all going to surprise her! But she told us it comes from the heart, just like with all the other special volunteers.
“Thank you,” Hatfield told me. “Oh gosh. There's a lot of heroes that work here though. I mean, and I'm not saying, like, I'm a hero, but... this place, they just have so many wonderful volunteers here. I'm just one of them.”
If you'd like to volunteer, donate, or even adopt a new furry friend, check out their website here.
