Featured Volunteer: Michele Kraemer
Article from “The Mickaboo Bird Rescue Companion”
Published April, 2024
By Dena Witkes
As a 100% volunteer-run organization, Mickaboo regularly highlights invaluable members of the team. This month, we feature Michele Kraemer (shown at left with her sun conure Pup Pup), who began volunteering just last year and already wears multiple hats. We gratefully acknowledge Michele as an asset to our team and thank her for all her efforts!
Michele is a lifelong bird lover who originally heard of Mickaboo thirteen years ago, when she got her cockatiels. Last summer, she was introduced to Megan Cowdell at the San Francisco Bird Hotel. After learning more about Mickaboo from Megan, the decision to volunteer was a no-brainer.
Michele is a multifaceted volunteer. She serves double duty as both the lovebird and cockatiel (one of our busiest teams!) coordinators, which she emphasizes would not be possible without the support she receives from fellow volunteers. She also solicits donations for Mickaboo's Holiday Auction and currently fosters two lovebirds, TieDye and Poplar, and an Indian Ringneck, Precious. Michele is truly there for all the birds!
As a coordinator, Michele finds great pleasure and satisfaction in connecting birds with their foster parents or their forever homes. She recognizes that each rescued bird is special and memorable in its own way. Recently, a group of seven cockatiels were left alone in a condo when their owner was put on life support. While it was a challenge to find foster homes for so many birds at once, Michele, with the help of our amazing volunteer team, was able to place all the birds in foster homes - and even found permanent homes for two of them!
Michele’s words of wisdom for anyone considering volunteering for Mickaboo are that you can volunteer in whatever capacity is right for you. When she first began, she was concerned that volunteering would be too time-consuming, but was pleasantly surprised by the flexibility and ability to tailor a role to fit her schedule. She has also found immense gratification in fostering birds, realizing that “saving one bird will not change the world, but it would change the world for that one bird.”
[Editor's note: learn more about Mickaboo's volunteer needs and sign up here.]
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