Mother’s Day Memorial Post for Venita Wood

DCIN Friends: We are honoring our Founder Venita Wood, who recently crossed the Rainbow Bridge to join the innumerable kitties she loved, on this Mother’s Day by launching a fundraiser in her memory. Venita was the extra mom so many extra-sweet kitties needed. She didn’t just run DCIN, she loved each kitty she helped as if he or she were her own. And – when she found she could no longer manage DCIN on her own – she was willing to do something few founders are: She let a new team step up and continue her life-saving work.

We remain grateful for everything Venita did and hope that our Friends will help her legacy continue by giving to our Compassionate Assistance Program (CAP), the flagship program Venita built DCIN around. Through it, we provide caregivers of extra-sweet kitties who are experiencing limited-income situations with the diabetic testing supplies they need, as well as access to the medicine they need with a current prescription. We provide up to $500 in diabetic-related vet care per year. As you might imagine, this is an expensive program to run! It costs us about $1,000 per year to support one CAP client. Every dollar counts!

If you’d like to join us in honoring Venita’s memory and legacy, please click the PayPal Donate button at the bottom of this post.

We’ve brought out DCIN’s initial logo for this one event – Do you remember it?? 😻

Thank you so very much for caring and for helping Venita see how much she is still appreciated as she watches over us all from the Bridge. ~Amy

Announcement: Leadership Team Transition

The DCIN Board of Directors would like to announce a transition in our leadership team. Jenna Watts, who has served with deep commitment as Executive Director since leading the DCIN relaunch in January 2015, will be succeeded in the ED role by Amy Sikes, who has also served on the core leadership team since the DCIN relaunch in January 2015. Dr. Sikes is joined by Jillian Rosile as Deputy Director and T Hamboyan Harrison as Director of Case Management; Sue Luhrs will remain as our Finance Director, and Lisa Sorini will remain as our Director of Diabetic Cat Rehoming.

Amy began her volunteer work with DCIN in 2015 as our Supplies Manager, adding the roles of Ground Transport Coordinator and Development Director in subsequent months. As DCIN’s needs changed and grew, she also added Acting Social Media Director and Deputy Director to her roles. Dr. Sikes holds a certificate in Nonprofit Leadership and Management.

Jillian joined DCIN in 2016 as a Case Manager and was quickly promoted to Director of Case Management due to extensive experience with feline diabetes care. Jillian’s professional experience in organizational and people management will support DCIN’s operational needs.

T joined DCIN in 2020 as a Case Manager. They have a deep knowledge of feline medical care from their years of volunteer work overseeing feline medical at a rescue and managing complicated medical needs of their own cats at home. T is also a cat behavior consultant at A Cat’s Purrspective, LLC, with certifications through IAABC (Associate Certified Shelter Behavior – Cat) and Fear Free Pets (animal trainer certification).

The whole DCIN Team thanks Jenna for her 7.5 years of dedicated service as our ED, leading DCIN through a challenging transition period when the organization was in danger of shuttering altogether, revamping our assistance programs, and growing the number of cats helped each year from dozens to hundreds. While Jenna’s intense schedule of saving human lives and training the next generation of human life-savers makes it too challenging for her to remain in the role of ED, she will continue in a role as Board member, along with Amy, Jillian, T, Sue, and Lisa.

Thank you for your continued support of extra-sweet kitties!

#BettyWhiteChallenge

Like many of you, we were so sad to hear of Betty White’s passing so close to her 100th birthday. DCIN would like to honor her memory by asking our facebook fans to participate in our #BettyWhiteChallenge! What makes DCIN unique? Well, like Betty White’s character Rose in The Golden Girls, the cats we help are extra sweet and love their sugar… a little too much!

Every donation goes directly toward helping diabetic cats and their people! Thank you so much for your support.

We help diabetic cats and their people. We support diabetic cats in their original and adoptive homes, rehome unwanted diabetic cats, and help to educate caregivers on the appropriate treatment of diabetic cats. DCIN is a 501(c)(3) organization.

Facebook pays all the processing fees for you, so 100% of your donation goes directly to the nonprofit. 

CLICK HERE to support our Facebook fundraiser!