VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A News 3 crew recently went to the Virginia Beach Animal Care and Adoption Center to surprise our newest News 3 Everyday Hero, Michelle O'Connell.
When we spotted her, we also found a large group of workers helping us celebrate the work Michelle does as a volunteer, which is a lot. Michelle has fostered over 1,500 animals. Additionally, she volunteers regularly at the animal care and adoption center while working on becoming a licensed veterinary technician.
In less than three years, she's volunteered more than 6,000 hours.
"It means basically, she has given her time as a full-time employee without the pay. So she has given just countless hours of her time and dedication to us, and we are forever grateful," says Captain Marcie Fox, Commander of the Animal Services Bureau.
In addition to her volunteering, she helps with office events like taco bar lunches, birthday celebrations and remembering other events that mean so much to the staff.
During the award presentation, News 3 anchor Kurt Williams shared a portion of an email we received nominating Michelle: "Her loyalty, selflessness and commitment to animal welfare make her not only deserving of recognition, but an inspiration to staff and fellow volunteers alike. Her contributions have been invaluable, and I strongly believe she embodies the spirit of this award."
For all those reasons, we presented Michelle with a News 3 Everyday Hero award, along with a $300 Visa gift card from our community partner Southern Bank.
She was grateful, but didn't want to take all the credit, "Everybody here works so hard for all the animals, not just me, for sure. So everyone here deserves this award, but thank you."
When we asked her about the importance of her volunteer work, she responded, "Oh gosh! Well, for the animals; we're all the voice of the animals around here. And, you know, they get dropped off here, and they have no one; they're frightened. We all do it for the animals."
In addition to volunteers, the shelter is also looking for folks who want to foster or adopt pets. For information on that, click here.
