Diana D.

Many years ago when Diana was a teenager, her dad rescued a young raccoon from the side of the road. There weren't any rehabbers or refuges to take it to so her family raised it the best they could and released it. Diana fell in love then and there but life would take her another path. She raised two sons and taught high school for 37 years. After she retired, she knew she wanted to volunteer but had no idea how to get started. She and her husband were watching a show about raccoons on the National Geographic channel. Listed in the closing credits was Evelyn's Wildlife Refuge. To seal Diana's fate, it was only a few miles down the road from her home. Three years later, Diana and her husband are both rehabbers with Evelyn's Wildlife Refuge and they are committed to helping as many orphaned small mammals as they can. Diana says that during baby season she is exhausted and broke, but knows that it isn't about her. It is about the precious, intelligent creatures that need her love and protection until they are old enough to be released into the wild. Since she began rehabbing, Diana discovered that not only did her family rescue that raccoon when she was younger, but as it turns out, her grandmother had done the same thing. Diana figures that helping orphaned wildlife must be in her blood. And we're certainly glad it is.