A VAN VALKENBURG(h) CONNECTION

By Pat Mersereau (Br 7)

She was young, in her early teen years, and lived on the streets. She had to find shelter and food wherever she could. It was a dangerous place to be. One day a kind person saw her and took her to a place where she could be taken care of. She had a warm bed to sleep in, good food, kind and loving people to help her, and some good health care. She was very happy and feeling good; she didn't know it was only temporary until a more permanent place could be found for her.

Then one day a family with a Dad, Mom and a boy and a girl, came to this special place. They had a loving home and wanted to share it with someone who needed such a place. They all met and became acquainted and then she went home with them.

It was wonderful. A big house with lots of room, a warm bed to sleep in, and she would never have to worry about where her next meal came from. They loved her - and so did all their friends and relatives. She was very content. This would be her family for as long as she lived, and even afterwards she would always be lovingly remembered.

The happy ending to this story was made possible by a Van Valkenburg connection. It all started one day when my daughter, Anne Marie Kodama, was tv surfing, had heard at the end of a program about a man named Van Valkenburg and it had something to do with Seattle and animals. She contacted me, and I telephoned the Seattle Humane Society to find out about a VV in the Seattle area who worked with animals.

To make a long story short, I did find Scott Van Valkenburg (Br U, but possibly Br 5) working at that time as Director for Companion Animals for PAWS in Lynnwood, WA. PAWS stands for Progressive Animal Welfare Society. Scott was delighted to hear from me and did know about the NAVVF from his parents, but wasn't a member then.

At my request Scott sent me an article about himself and his work with animals, which was in the Fall 1997 issue with an updated article in the Winter 1997 issue.

Because of this VV connection, my son and his family who live in Seattle adopted a cat from PAWS on Dec. 27, 1997. Their son, Ben, named the cat Frances and gave her a birthday of her own. He chose one day after his birthday because Frances probably was born in June, like he was. Frances still happily resides with Dave, Marianne, Ben and Bailey Mersereau.