In September of 2005 Erica signed up to be a volunteer at a local no kill shelter in Chicago. When I met her and she told me she wanted to be a humane educator I thought I was the luckiest person in the world. You see Erica was an elementary school teacher, she taught in the Chicago Public Schools, she was fearless, and she spoke Spanish, she loved kids and she had more energy than all of us put together and she was ready and willing to do whatever needed to be done.
So we put her to work.
For the Community Outreach program she was a humane education presenter for hundreds of presentations, for kids and adults and everyone in between, she did live presentations and cable TV and CBS, she could handle any audience and always knew her facts and was so charming and bubbly and enthusiastic how could you not learn and "get it" and go home and call right away to make a spay neuter appointment or decide to take better care of your pet?
Her students got involved too, every Friday if they had finished their work and were very good they got a reward...they were allowed to do shelter work, making book marks and Bite Books and stuffing bags of information for our events and they loved it and they loved Erica.
She taught them about unconditional love and how great it is to love an animal and why we needed to take care of them, to speak up for them and protect them. Her students got involved with Dogs Deserve Better and came up with great posters and essays for Spay Day USA and toured the clinic more than once. Erica educated them and turned them into animal activists and made them feel important.
Erica also was an adoption counselor and a location manager, she worked at the front desk of the clinic and took over for our volunteer coordinator when we were in between staff members, she did offsite adoption events and volunteered at the Adoption Center and for the past year she worked part time helping our Development department.
She was a good friend and a great volunteer, she loved animals and was always willing to go the extra mile for them. She was also very kind to people and made you feel like she knew you really well right away, she was always bubbling over with energy and drive and she accomplished more than most of us do in a lifetime. She was also carefree and liked to take risks and could not be persauded once she made up her mind no matter how hard you tried. She would just laugh and go right on doing what she wanted to do.
She loved Millie and Mia fiercely and would do anything for them no matter what challenges they presented. Millie was ashelter adoptee and Erica's first dog, Mia came later off the streets of Little Village. Erica found her hungry and scared as a puppy, she took her right home and was her staunchest supporter.
I don't know why Erica was only with us for a short time but I do know she left behind hundreds probably thousands of people she has touched and influenced, people who are a little bit better because of her. And I know that it is our duty to carry on where she left off, to continue to teach and gently persuade and defend and staunchly support those who do not have a voice or those who have been judged soley by their breed.
Erica loved unconditionally and that is the gift she gave all of us as well as a reminder that
"now is the time" because life is short.
The very first picture is of Millie at Erica's memorial service, it was the end of the evening and people were starting to leave, Millie walked over and layed down under the table that held candles and pictures of her Mom.
Mia is feeling a little sad about the past year but she is confident that the New Year will bring a new best friend to love, a new home, maybe a few new toys and lots of good times and kisses. She thanks everyone for their help on her behalf. 
