Over the last few months, Pets of the Homeless (POTH) has welcomed a whole host of new volunteers who are helping our team continue to make a difference in the lives of people who are facing homelessness as well as their furry friends.
We are also pleased to report that we have recently appointed two new board members who are helping to steer the future direction of Pets of the Homeless and strengthen our impact on the local community.
As such, we thought this would be a great opportunity to introduce our board members and invite them to share why they have become passionate supporters of Pets of the Homeless.
Meet Leanne
Leanne Vasilevska joined the board in January of this year as our new Secretary. With a background working in the not-for-profit and public sectors, including five years within housing and homelessness in Victoria, Leanne has extensive experience in community programs and grant submissions.
Having worked in the sector, Leanne was well aware that there aren’t many services available specifically for people facing homelessness and their pets, and as an animal lover herself, the work being carried out by Pets of the Homeless was something that Leanne was eager to be a part of.
Pets are family and the thought of anybody having to surrender their pet due to hardship is heart-wrenching.
“I think that POTH fills a gap in the current service system where we don’t do enough to ensure people don’t lose what they have. In my view, if we can work from a place of prevention and focus our energy on ensuring people can hold on to the good things in their life, it provides a great deal of hope and positivity in the most difficult of times.”
Meet Tricia
As Director, Tricia Liew shares her strong knowledge of strategy and operations to explore new ways that our organisation can foster growth and development, and ultimately help more people and pets in need.
Driven by her desire to use her professional skills to help others paired with her love for animals and her personal connection to the POTH cause, Tricia joined the board in March.
POTH is a charitable organisation unlike any other I know of. It’s unique in that it recognises the importance of the bond between people and their pets, and it acknowledges that sometimes life can throw a curve ball that may impact a person’s ability to look after their family, like their pet!
Meet Ellen
One of the founding directors, Ellen Lim is our Treasurer. As a Chartered Accountant, Ellen comes to us with a broad range of experience across various industries.
Ellen first connected with POTH back in 2015 when the organisation was first formed. Her strong knowledge of accounting played an important role in helping to get the charity officially registered and up and running.
For Ellen, her reason for so generously volunteering her time to POTH can be summed up by her favorite quote by the Dalai Lama:
Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.
Meet Yvonne
If you haven’t already met her, Yvonne Hong is our Founder, CEO and Chairperson. After several years managing and supporting a number of different pet rescue groups, Yvonne recognised that there was a serious lack of services available for people facing homelessness and their much-loved pets and went on a one woman mission to start POTH in 2015.
As CEO and Chairperson, Yvonne is the driving force of the organisation, managing POTH’s operations, fundraising, communications and marketing. She has dedicated her life to POTH for the past three years, working tirelessly to get POTH off the ground and to where it is today.
“I’m incredibly excited to welcome our two new volunteers who have recently joined Ellen and myself on the POTH board. Between the four of us, we have a really diverse skill set and a really wide pool of knowledge that will be extremely important for our future,” says Yvonne.
With such a dedicated team of highly skilled board members we can really take POTH to the next level, and there’s no telling how much we will be able to achieve and how many people we will be able to help in the years to come.
On behalf of POTH we’d like to thank all of our committed board members and volunteers for their wonderful work in our community. For anyone interested in becoming a volunteer or getting involved, apply online now!
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