2021 December MVP: Angela Morelli

Many Winnipeg Humane Society volunteers may not know Angela Morelli, but one way or another, we’ve all seen her work.

Since early 2020, Angela has been behind the scenes as an administrative support for Volunteer Services. Her duties are varied, depending upon the work that needs to be done on any given day. “I assist Kelle Greene and Amy Brake with admin duties,” Angela said. “Some days it might be mostly scanning and uploading. Other days I may need to also make the volunteers’ name tags.”

But Angela has played a big role in turning Volunteer Services into a paperless office. “Basically, we’ve taken all the volunteer paper files and I’ve scanned and uploaded the documents so we can go paperless going forward. That’s a big step.”

“Angela has been a huge contributor to the successful transition to our new database, Better (Volunteer) Impact,” explained Kelle Greene, WHS Director, Volunteer and Foster. “It was a beast of a project, one that was not in our plan for 2021, but we were able to complete with Angela’s attention to detail, willingness to learn the database and her time. We are grateful to have her a part of our team!

Formerly an actuary with Great-West Life (now Canada Life), Angela is now retired and volunteers ‘about three hours per week.’ She began her volunteer career in February 2020 and got into the office for only a couple of shifts before the pandemic began. Fortunately, she was able to do much of her work from home over the next year and then once she was fully vaccinated, she was able to come in and work at the shelter.

Angela’s volunteering is being done as a way of paying tribute to her most recent pets, Luigi and Guinness (Boston Terrier rescues from another Manitoba shelter). “We had 10 wonderful years with our dogs and sadly, we lost them both in 2019 within three months of each other,” she explained. “What motivated me to volunteer at the Humane Society was that I wanted to do something for animals in their honour.”

She grew up with all sorts of pets and has always loved animals but didn’t have any in her adult years until 2009. “In a lot of my years working, we just didn’t have the time,” she explained. So, in 2009 my husband really pushed me, and we got the two dogs. It was wonderful, but for now we’re not ready yet to get another dog. We have to wait until we’re both ready.”

In the meantime, Angela satisfies her ‘dog fix’ by sitting for friend’s and family’s dogs, so when they go away she gets to have furry friends come and stay. I take them for a week or a weekend, whatever they need. It’s very good for me, but a reminder of the commitment required. “It’s 11 pm and it’s -40C, and you have to take the dog out for a bio break… those are things that you soon forget.

Angela loves coming in to volunteer. “It’s a fantastic place,” she says. “Everyone is so caring and kind. I love working with Kelle and Amy and they have really made me feel part of the team. It feels great to know I’m helping them out.

Today I was working up front at the scanner and someone had a dog in their office, and the dog came out to say hello. So wonderful. I wish I had that experience when I was working. It’s also nice to come in and take a peek at the dogs and see what puppies are here.  I love to see them but I can’t get too attached. My husband teases me and says, ‘Don’t bring a dog home.’ But our friends and family constantly ask me when I will do just that.”