Jon and Kris Zerby are the Animal Protection Society’s volunteers of the year

APS-FH shares some kind words about their vol­un­teers of the year for 2022.

The Ani­mal Pro­tec­tion Society—Friday Har­bor is pleased to announce Jon and Kris Zer­by as its vol­un­teers of the year for 2022.

Jon served as an APS board mem­ber from 2016 to 2022, but this hus­band-wife duo have been vol­un­teer­ing for APS-FH for many years — before Jon served on the board, even before APS-FH had a for­mal vol­un­teer pro­gram. Jon and Kris have vol­un­teered at com­mu­ni­ty gath­er­ings and fundrais­ing events, walked dogs, vis­it­ed with cats, helped with repairs, run odd errands, and gen­er­al­ly have jumped in to do what­ev­er was need­ed over the years.

Their lat­est vol­un­teer adven­ture is run­ning our Pet Food Pantry with their APS alum­ni dog, June. The Pet Food Pantry pro­vides free pet food and sup­plies to pet fam­i­lies in need. Pro­gram patrons must be low-income, and their pets spayed or neutered. The Zer­bys uphold these pro­gram require­ments with kind­ness and diplomacy.

Jon and Kris pick up pantry food and sup­ply dona­tions from the shel­ter and take them to Trea­sure Hounds. Here they bag the cat and dog kib­ble, orga­nize and stock the pantry shelves, work at the pantry hand­ing out food and sup­plies, and pro­vide exten­sive sta­tis­tics to help us fundraise for the pro­gram. While doing this work, they are con­stant­ly seek­ing avenues and resources to bet­ter meet the needs of the peo­ple and pets they serve.

In 2020, the Zer­bys advo­cat­ed for the PFP’s hours of oper­a­tion to be lined up with those of the Fri­day Har­bor Food Bank, mak­ing it more acces­si­ble for patrons of both ser­vices. In 2021, they ini­ti­at­ed a col­lab­o­ra­tion with Meals on Wheels to send Pet Food Pantry food and sup­plies home to Meals on Wheels patrons with pets. Recent­ly, the avail­abil­i­ty of pet food has been incon­sis­tent, and the prices have increased dra­mat­i­cal­ly. Jon and Kris reg­u­lar­ly go off island on a near­ly all-day hunt to numer­ous stores for pet food for the program.

“It is the best job I nev­er had,” says Kris about the PFP. “Every relat­ed hour is a pleasure.”

Thank you Jon, Kris, and June for being the friend­ly faces and the wag­ging tail behind the Pet Food Pantry and for all of your ser­vice over the years!

APS-FH has numer­ous vol­un­teer­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties. If you are inter­est­ed in help­ing, vis­it our web­site to learn more about our vol­un­teer pro­gram.

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