Monthly Volunteer Profile: Rowen Guncheon

Rowen Guncheon is perhaps not your typical Winnipeg Humane Society volunteer.

Unlike many of us (this writer included), she is neither a retiree nor a student. She has a full-time job and one evening a week she comes to Kitty Kat Way, giving the cats some affection and matching up interested visitors with their perfect feline companion.

She came to Winnipeg from Minneapolis for schooling and stayed. She is now an Electrical Engineer (EIT), and works for the Rehabilitation Centre for Children, providing and designing assistive technologies for children with disabilities. This includes power wheelchairs, communication devices for children who can’t speak, and adaptive toys for children lacking fine motor control.

She seems to bring the same passion to her volunteer position as to her job. She is an Adoptions Assistant in Kitty Kat Way but since joining the WHS 18 months ago she has also volunteered in Intake, Feline Enrichment, and for Adoptions in the Cat Condos.

She chuckled when asked about her duties and said, “I often joke to my friends and say I sell cats.”

“In Kitty Kat Way it’s unique since all the doors to the cages are unlocked,” she continued. “As a result, I spend a lot of time helping people find what they’re looking for and explaining how to interact with the cats in that section since a lot of the cats on our side are looking for someone very special or they need a little bit of assistance with their socializing.”

Rowen describes her position as a “bit of a customer service job.” At the start of each shift, she visits all of the rooms in Kitty Kat Way, sees who’s new, who’s still there, and comes up with questions about several of the cats. She then goes to the front desk and gets answers to the questions. “They’re very patient with me,” she laughed, adding the questions are usually ones she’d be asked by visitors.

She came to the WHS for a couple of reasons. She grew up with a dog and a cat and loves animals. But she also wanted to fill in some of the empty spots in her calendar.

“I’d just graduated from university,” she explained. “I think a lot of grads don’t realize when they’ve just graduated that when you’re a student work would come home with you and that’s not always the case anymore. There was always something to be doing.

“When I started my actual job, suddenly I had all my evenings free and my weekends. I told myself that I had to get some structure, so I came to the Humane Society to be able to do something in this free time. Also, at that time I was living in housing that wasn’t pet friendly, so I did miss hanging around with cats.”
The people and the cats are the two main things Rowen loves about coming in every week.
“I love the cats and spending time with them, but it is such a joy to talk with people – customers, volunteers, and the staff. I love the staff,” she explained. “It’s special to be there for people. Some people come in looking for cats, and some people come in because they’ve lost someone, and they just want to dip their toe back in. Everybody wants to have somebody to talk to. I have something of a slow shift, so I get to be there when they want someone to talk to, answer questions and just maybe find themselves a feline companion.”

All customers are different, she explained, and you need to help them as best you can. Some are legitimately ready to adopt, while others are there because they’ve recently lost someone and they’re looking to dip their toe back in but not quite ready.

Rowen had an interesting adoption in early June. A young pre-teen girl came in with her entire family. The girl had saved up her money since Christmas to get a cat and since the WHS had a sale, the time was right for her. She had selected a specific cat from the website and wanted to meet (and adopt) it. Rowen and this particular cat had not made friends yet, but she showed the girl how to let the cat sniff her hand. “So this cat, who previously had been sitting at the back of the cage for me, sniffed the girl’s hand and immediately rolled onto its back and let the girl rub its belly.” A perfect match, and in 45 minutes the girl, her family and their new cat were on their way home.

Also recently, Rowen gave in to temptation and adopted Norman, a senior cat. “The Adoptions staff always joked that I was never going to take anyone home, but I got him,” she laughed.

“There’s always a place for you at the Winnipeg Humane Society,” Rowen tells people looking to volunteer. “If you like people or animals or you just like having something for a few hours a week on your schedule. People here will be so happy to have you come in. It’s so lovely to come in here.”