Volunteer Finds Second Chances for Stray Animals

Martinez (CBS 5) ― It's a sunny day in Martinez, and Sue Underwood is hard at work at the Contra Costa Animal Services shelter. Today's project: find a stray spaniel a home. The dog is too shy and scared to be adopted, so if rescue groups don't want her, she could be euthanized.

Sue has called in Lynne Grigsby of Smiley Dog Rescue, and her meeting with the spaniel is a success. Lynn will find the little golden dog a foster home. For Sue, it's mission accomplished.

"It's neat when you see them move on to the next place, and that's why I do it," she says with a smile.

As a shelter volunteer, Sue's developed a network of rescue groups to find animals temporary or permanent homes.

"A typical Sue call is, 'There's a dog I want you to see,'' explains Lynne. "Inevitably, when I come in here, I rarely walk out with one dog, because there's usually more than one."

Thanks to Sue's persistence, as many as 250 dogs a year go to Smiley Dog Rescue alone for adoption.

"Sue is a saint," Lynne adds. "It's lives. You're saving them. If Sue weren't here, those dogs wouldn't make it out on four feet."

Sue always loved animals, and took a job at Contra Costa Animal Services in 1998, after retiring as a Pac Bell training manager. At the shelter, she started a program for volunteer foster families and an adoption program at three East Bay PetSmart stores, where some 800 cats are adopted each year.

Sue spent seven and a half years as volunteer coordinator at the shelter, then gave up her paying job, so she could focus on rescuing the animals. She now volunteers full-time seven days a week, more than when she was paid.

"My payment is in the animals who walk out the front door," Sue says. 'I count it by heartbeats."

You can find Sue bottle feeding baby kittens napping in a cage under her desk. She cares for foster cases at her home -- once, she took in a goat. Another time, she housed 42 cats at once before she found them homes.

"I found a rescue for 100 mice!" Sue laughs. "I know, I know, there's rescues for everything. Most of them need a second chance. I found my passion. I really have found my passion. Everyday when I leave I feel good. There's something good, everyday."

For helping to save thousands of animals a year, this week's Jefferson Award in the Bay Area goes to Sue Underwood.

By Sharon Chin

Related Link:

* Contra Costa Co. Animal Services

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