PAWS Profile: Deborah Chapman

Oscar Mendez — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:57:15 +0000

From an early age, Deborah felt the importance of people and animals in her life. Her father’s job with Exxon meant her family moved from city to city, including Boston, New York, Texas and Maryland. Growing up, she’d always wanted a dog, but her family’s frequent relocating made it difficult. But her cats were always close. Deborah and her sister always had one or two cats that made the moves with her family. In fact, Deborah’s cat Rajah was a regular visitor at the office when Deborah joined PAWS Chicago.

In 2003, Deborah felt the need to combine her love for animals with her desire to do more philanthropic work. She joined the PAWS Chicago Development Board and quickly combined her experience in advertising, journalism and retail with her people skills to recruit the help of her Michigan Ave. contacts to secure sponsorships.

As Deborah continued to volunteer on the Development Board, her interest in a PAWS Chicago goal of creating a state-of-the-art, cageless, No Kill Adoption Center deepened. During her time working for Chicago magazine, she came across an article contrasting PAWS Chicago’s No Kill mission with other traditional shelters’ objectives. Her commitment to saving the lives of animals was solidified.

Landing a full-time job at PAWS Chicago, Deborah dove into the Capital Campaign to raise money for the Adoption and Humane Center. “My greatest reward that brought tears to my eyes was seeing the pets coming in to the new Adoption Center for the first time. We have inspired many other rescue groups and shelters throughout the country.”

Having helped to make PAWS Chicago Adoption and Humane Center a reality, the self-described “people and pet” person fulfilled another dream–adopting her first dog–a stray terrier.

“Rania” was a handful in the beginning, needing training, but Deborah ignored her doubts and rose to the task, entering Rania in K-9 University, where “Rania and I both had training…It made a world of difference. Now Rania goes everywhere with me: the office…dentist…even the hair salon.”

Asked about her favorite part of working at PAWS Chicago, Deborah describes what gives her the most pleasure. “Recruiting and cultivating new members and helping them find their ‘niche’ on our Development Board. Each member brings a special talent to our organization.” And where will she be in 20 years? “I’ll still be loving pets and wanting to help save them. I’m sure I’ll be a PAWS Chicago volunteer and loving every minute of my time at the Adoption Center.”

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PAWS Profile: Deborah Chapman