Joining me today on Episode 73 of One Happy Podcast is Marie Geerman of Aruba Flight Volunteers and the New Life for Paws.  Marie has been a guest on One Happy Podcast a couple of times before on episode 15 and episode 30.  Just to catch you up Marie has been traveling to Aruba for 30 years and even lived there for just about a decade.  Her husband is Aruban and she even has an Aruban born son.  In other words, Marie has a connection to the island as strong as any.  When you combine that connection to Aruba with her love for animals what you get is some extremely driven to impact the quality of life of the animals of Aruba.  

 

This drive Marie feels to help the animals started back when she lived on Aruba and now continues on here in the United States.  Marie is part of the animal rescue organization “New Life for Paws” which helps care for and nurture stray dogs on the island.  Also, she founded “Aruba Flight Volunteers”, which helps set up and organize transport of adopted animals from Aruba to the United States.  Recently both of these organizations hit significant milestones.  While it has been legally registered in Aruba since 2015 New Life for Paws has recently received 501c3 status as a not for profit organization in the United States and Aruba Flight Volunteers just surpassed four thousand members in its Facebook group.  Both of these organizations are at the forefront of changing the lives of so many animals on the island.

 

In this interview, Marie and I catch up on what has been happening on the island in the area of animal rescue.  She tells me about the team of wonderfully caring individuals that make up New Life for Paws, and the strides they’ve made over the last year.  She also tells me about the struggles they have endured as a fledging organization and what it will take for them to reach that next level.  I hope you all enjoy this episode of One Happy Podcast as it is centered around a subject that is near and dear to my heart.  For those of you who may not be animal lovers (if there are any of you out there), I am sure you can appreciate the passion and work ethic of someone trying to make a difference.

On This Episode of One Happy Podcast you will:

• Learn about two fantastic organization doing amazing work on Aruba
• Discover how the strays are captured to be spayed or neutered
• Hear about the difficulties of getting adult dogs transported
• Find out about the impact of spay and neuter campaigns on Aruba’s stray animal population
• Hear about the team of volunteers
• working to make a difference on the island

Links and resources mentioned on this episode:

• New Life for Paws
• Aruba Flight Volunteers
• Rescue Story the Kia Puppies
• One Happy Podcast Facebook
• One Happy Podcast Instagram
• One Happy Podcast Twitter