Greetings from the Wildlife Director By Meredith Day Following in the footsteps of women with much smaller feet than my own, I am amazed at how the big shoes are I need to fill. I am very proud to be the third generation of Pipestem women to undertake the challenge of providing the best care for the sick injured and orphaned animals of San Benito County. This will be my first year as the director of animal care and I am very excited to keep the center moving forward and continuing to build on the foundations my grandmother so painstakingly laid down for us. Sitting at her desk I cherish the memories of the hot Paicines summer afternoons we spent when I was growing up, when I struggled to digest all the wisdom and experience she shared with me. She loved San Benito County and told me how lucky we were to live in such a beautiful countryside filled with such a variety of wild neighbors. I couldn't appreciate how right she was until I was grown and better traveled. After being gone a few years and moving cross-country, arriving home again it was almost like seeing with new eyes how beautiful San Benito County is in the springtime. I always thought my Gram was waxing sentimental, but now I whole-heartedly agree with her how lucky we are. The animals of our county are a blessing and each one I meet teaches me more about the abundance of the land here that it can provide for such a variety of specialized hunters and foragers. With the variety of animals we work to mend and send to freedom from our center, comes the need to be able to provide a variety of habitats to aid us in our goals. My Grandmother and many volunteers had this site put together in 1991, since then many animals have come through our habitats and with them some wear and tear. One of my goals for the center is some refurbishing to maximize the usability of each pen we have. To accomplish this goal we will need many sheets of ¾” plywood and boxes of deck screws, and most important, hands. If you are handy, have free time and are age 17 and over we would love to have your help. Please contact us at (831) 628-3400 if you are interested in volunteering to help us refurbish our habitats. I would like to thank all of the people who have helped the center exist to where we are now, it has taken many volunteers and a lot of help from the community to keep our center open since 1978. Everyone of those efforts has helped to realize my Grandmothers dream of providing sanctuary and a second chance at freedom for the injured, sick and orphaned animals of our county. I hope we can continue on in the same tradition to keep realizing that dream.