Orange County Cavy Haven Volunteers [source]
Orange County Cavy Haven (OCCH) was founded in 2002 to fill the need in Southern California for a rescue focused exclusively on guinea pigs. Since then, OCCH has grown to be able to adopt over 240 guinea pigs each year.
Unlike most rescues or shelters, OCCH doesn’t have a central facility or rescue center. Instead, the hundreds of guinea pigs helped each year are done so by private “foster families” who volunteer to take in homeless guinea pigs rescued by OCCH until a permanent home can be found.
Orange County Cavy Haven isn’t the first “foster then adopt” rescue, thought the tenacity and forward-thinking of its CEO, Michiko Vartanian, lends an easy brand to the “foster/adopt” flavor of Orange County Cavy Haven.
Recently, wheek.it got to catch-up with the ever-busy, fast-talking Vartanian, where we got to ask a few questions.
The results of the interview are fascinating. Vartanian’s answers lend a special insight into the daily responsibilities and demands faced by a growing rescue and its team of volunteers.
Follow This Interview
- Part 1: Guinea Pig Rescue Interview: Orange County Cavy Haven (current)
- Part 2: Guinea Pig Rescue Interview: Orange County Cavy Haven
Michiko Vartanian CEO OC Cavy Haven [source]
From OCCH’s biggest challenges to what kind of hours a guinea pig rescue CEO keeps, Michiko told all. And we’re so happy she did. Here’s the result of that fascinating, insightful interview.
wheek.it (WK): Michiko, thanks so much for taking the time to talk. I know you keep a busy schedule – so to start off, how do you do it?
Michoko Vartanian, Orange County Cavy Haven CEO (MV): It’s my pleasure. My days are full, but I always try my best to reach out to whomever asks. If this interview can help spread the word of what we’re doing to help our guinea pigs, I’m all for it!
WK: Great! Then let’s get started.
MV: OK.
WK: Let’s start at the beginning. Can you give us a little background on OCCH?
MV: OCCH was founded in 2002 by Nicole Peeples. Originally, she was volunteering with another small animal rescue, but branched out and started Cavy Haven with the focus just on guinea pigs. I began volunteering in 2007, and took over as CEO in mid-2012, when Nicole left to start a business.
WK: So how was your experience as a volunteer in 2007?
MV: I adopted my first guinea pigs from OCCH in 2007. Their foster mom, Holly Clark, was so wonderful to me when I went to her house to pick them up. She was very careful in instructing me about how to properly care for them, knowing that I was a first-time piggy mom. I was so touched by the fact that I was able to see how and where they’d been living, and how much she loved them.
Over the course of the next few weeks, she was so helpful to me when I had questions about their care. I ended up ordering my supplies through Supply Day because I wanted to support the rescue. When I came to pick up my supplies, I noticed a handful of volunteers trying to assist customers with getting their supplies, and with grooming and answering questions. They seemed busy and in need of some help. I wanted to pay back the organization that had brought my new boys into my life so I asked about volunteering.
What I soon found out is that there is a lot more to putting on events than meets the eye, and I realized that the best way to pay OCCH back was to show up at storage before events and load things up and, you know, do the “dirty work” that most people don’t realize goes into putting on events. This is still my favorite part of events (the grunt work that very few people like to do!), because I know that an event can’t happen without the behind the scenes efforts. I began to start pitching in in other areas of the rescue besides events. This exposure to all aspects of the rescue over several years allowed me to be prepared to take over in my current position without too much difficulty.
Guinea Pig Veggie Eating Contest Winners at SoCal Pignic 2012
WK: Guinea pig rescues are busy, busy, busy! So for others thinking about starting a rescue, but who may not know what it takes: What kind of hours does a GP rescue CEO keep?
MV: There really are no hours, it’s more like an all day every day sort of thing. And there really isn’t a typical day. We have about 80 volunteers, including fosters, events volunteers, remote volunteers, shelter scouts, and various other people pitching in.
I receive anywhere from 50 to 100 emails, calls, or texts every day, not only from our volunteers, but from the general public, on matters ranging from emergency piggy help to updates on adoptions to questions involving coordinating upcoming events. Essentially, my phone is constantly at work letting me know that someone is trying to reach me. Fortunately, we have a great team of volunteers who pitch in considerably in the areas that need the most attention (adoptions, fosters, events, and shelters). Even with the extra help, however, there are so many little things that need to happen for the rescue to run that I think most people wouldn’t even think about – things like making sure all sick piggies are getting to the vet and being properly cared for, making sure that all the items we need for events (such as price sheets, educational information, product, clean fleece) are stocked and ready to go, making sure all of the monthly forms and paperwork are being properly filed.
Yes, my days are full, but the rewards of helping so many guinea pigs, and helping people meet and welcome their new family members make it all worthwhile.
(To be continued…)
Follow This Interview
- Part 1: Guinea Pig Rescue Interview: Orange County Cavy Haven (current)
- Part 2: Guinea Pig Rescue Interview: Orange County Cavy Haven
