Like the Animals She Cares for, This LifeLine Volunteer is Also a Survivor

Volunteers are the heart of most nonprofits, and that is especially true at LifeLine Animal Project.  Their volunteers help do everything from walking and training dogs, to cleaning the Kitty Motel, to working at offsite adoptions, to tabling special events.  One of them, Vivian Aaron, has much in common with the shelter animals she works with  – she is a survivor too.

While driving down I-85 one afternoon, a drunk driver hit Vivian, causing her car to flip and leaving her with a fractured skull, neck and brain injury.  Vivian spent the next four weeks at Grady Hospital, but has no memory of her time there.  When she got out of Grady, she developed a blood clot in her brain, and had to go back and spend another two weeks in the hospital.  Her road to recovery was difficult, and it took her a long time to feel normal again.  However, even though she still has neck pain, she doesn’t complain or dwell on it. 

“I’ve always admired the way shelter dogs adjust so quickly after they come in injured or abused,“ she says.  “I try to follow their example by being strong and living in the moment.”  True to her word, as soon as Vivian was well enough, she went back to LifeLine and began volunteering again.

She started volunteering at LifeLine four years ago as a dog walker.  “I loved walking the dogs, and I always made sure to stop halfway through our walk to cuddle whomever I was walking,” she says.  “I knew that the five minutes of affection I gave them made a difference in their day, and the grateful responses I received also made a positive difference in mine.”  

Vivian quickly became a jack-of-all-trades at LifeLine.  In addition to walking dogs, she led a cleanup at the College Park Clinic before LifeLine moved in, and she volunteered at adoption events, Earth Day events, vaccination clinics and the Avondale Estates Artbque.  A former retail saleswoman, Vivian uses her excellent people and sales skills to obtain donations for LifeLine, such as dog and cat food, bleach, towels and tennis balls.  She also spreads the word about the organization to everyone she knows, and it’s not uncommon for her friends and relatives to donate money and food to LifeLine after talking to her.   

Her dedication to animals doesn’t end at LifeLine.  Recently, when she saw an unneutered male pit bull in someone’s truck at a grocery store, she waited 10 minutes for the owner to come outside and then educated him about pet overpopulation, the benefits of spay/neuter and free neutering for pit bulls.  “I like to educate people on responsible pet ownership whenever I have the chance,” she says.  “Usually, they’re appreciative.”

Vivian and her husband have two four-legged children:  a cat named Snowpeapod who she rescued from a gutter, and a dog named Buddy who she adopted from LifeLine’s shelter four years’ ago.  “Our animals mean the world to us,” says Vivian.  “They really are our children.”  

According to Vivian, volunteering at LifeLine brings many rewards.  “The shelter dogs and cats are always happy and incredibly grateful to see me,” says Vivian.  “And I get a lot of joy from being around them.  They are such amazing creatures.”    

LifeLine Animal Project can always use more dedicated volunteers to help with the animals.  If you would like to volunteer, please visit http://www.lifelineanimal.org/volunteer.