Meet Lorena Bader | Retired high school teacher/Four Paws and Friends Co-Founder/Animal Welfare Activist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lorena Bader and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lorena, do you have a favorite quote or affirmation?
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Anthropologist Margaret Mead

I truly believe that regardless of how much money Four Paws and Friends brings in or how big we become, we are successful. We have been able to make a big difference in the lives of shelter animals and other owned animals in our community by having dedicated, inspirational individuals who want to make the world a better place.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am a retired public high school science teacher. I didn’t have time to volunteer or run a non-profit while I was teaching and raising a family. I retired in 2017 and decided to either volunteer with teenagers (I love them) or dogs (I also love them). I ended up becoming actively involved with MCACC. I volunteered at the shelter for 3 years and then started Four Paws and Friends with another volunteer. I volunteer for other shelters and rescues throughout the valley, donate much time and energy to Four Paws and Friends, and also spend time pushing for reform to make the conditions for shelter animals better.

Side note: I was fired from volunteering when my daughter, who was also a volunteer, shared pictures of excessively high temperatures at MCACC. I was never given a chance to plead my case nor even given a reason for being fired, however I decided to continue helping the animals at the shelter because the need was great. It has been a constant battle with them, but we keep pushing to be able to help. This could be an entirely different story.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We live on acreage at the base of South Mountain preserve. I’d definitely take them on some day hikes in the mountains behind our home. I personally love to cook so we wouldn’t be dining out much. If they love sushi, we’d definitely order takeout from Harumi in downtown Phoenix. We’d also take a trip to Rocky Point where we have a home so they could get a taste of Mexico and our favorite beach. Each visitor is unique in their interests, so the rest would be based on what they would enjoy.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
The success of Four Paws and Friends is due to the tireless fundraising work of Hayley James-Hannigan and Lisa Altenbernd. Those two in addition to Andrea Alden, Laura Martini, and the former and present, hard-working, dedicated volunteers of Maricopa County Animal Care and Control have helped tremendously in our mission. Volunteers often spend inordinate amounts of money, time, and energy to help the homeless shelter animals. We started Four Paws and Friends so we could reduce the burden on volunteers and to have a legitimate way to fundraise. Often, volunteers would just scrape funds together to help an animal in need or to buy supplies that Maricopa County Animal Care and Control didn’t provide. The management frowned upon individuals collecting money so we decided to start a non-profit for the West shelter. From that point, we have grown to provide support to rescues and owned pets.

Both East Side Elves and Creative Contributions did this for the East shelter and we look up to both of those organizations. We wanted to do something similar for the West shelter.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fourpawsAZ