This month our board of directors gave recognition to two people who have contributed to the success of our program. We honored Karla Ivet Ahumada Ramírez as our 2025 Volunteer of the Year and Suzy Thompson as our 2025 Founder’s Award recipient.
Our campaign manager Julia Salido presented Karla with a certificate of appreciation and a bouquet of flowers at our sterilization campaign on December 21. The entire sterilization team celebrated Karla’s achievement and the last campaign of the year with cake during a brief break in the campaign.
A former veterinary student, Karla has been a dedicated and skilled volunteer at our sterilization campaigns for at least four years. She usually works in the recovery area, caring for the animals at a critical time after their surgeries by monitoring their respiration, making sure they are not bleeding, giving them antibiotic injections, and making sure they are ready to go home before they are discharged.
We also honored Suzy Thompson as the recipient of our annual Founder’s Award. Suzy served on our board for six years, becoming our vice president in April of 2023. Her special talent was in making friends and recruiting volunteers and donations for Amigos. Her ready smile, soft Texan drawl, and gentle sense of humor made everyone want to help her, and us.
Suzy skillfully recruited auction and raffle prizes from donors for our annual fundraising event in February and collected hundreds of donated items for “Suzy’s Tienda,” storing most of the merchandise at her house until it could be priced and delivered to the event’s location.
In September of this year, she and her husband Bob reluctantly returned to Texas for Bob’s health and to be closer to family members. They took their three rescued dogs with them but left many sad friends behind.