The Field Operations team recently used its Volunteer PTO Day to help repair damaged enclosures at the Kowiachobee Animal Preserve.
The Kowiachobee Animal Preserve (KAP) is an educational facility in Naples that is home to over 130 endangered, exotic, farm and domestic animals and strives to increase public awareness about the populations of exotic and endangered animals.
Since the organization depends on volunteers to complete everything from animal care, grant writing and even damage repairs, KAP is always on the lookout for more assistance.
Field Operations Support Coordinator Luis Munoz Diaz first noticed the preserve’s request for assistance in the Volunteer Network, and he recognized the name from his time volunteering there in high school.
Already familiar with the organization and its mission, he thought it would be a great opportunity for his team.
“It brings the team together, doing something outside of the office for the greater good of the community.” Luis said.
<img alt="Arthrex, Inc." data-src="image/field-operations-vpto-3.png lazyload=" true"="" data-cke-saved-src="image/field-operations-vpto-3.png" src="image/field-operations-vpto-3.png" style="vertical-align:middle;border:0px;float:left;" width="300">
Hurricane Ian’s impact in September 2022 resulted in the team’s 2022 Volunteer PTO Day being cancelled. Ready to reinstate the yearly event, Luis shared the post with his team, and they agreed.
On the morning of their Volunteer PTO Day, the team of eight were split into three work groups. One group focused on repairing a wall that had collapsed in the horse enclosure. They leveled the ground before reinstalling the wall and nailing the wood back into place.
Another group was responsible for cleaning out an area that was once an animal encounter space. They spent their time taking down the old fence and making space for a new exhibit.
The last group worked inside the tiger exhibit — thankfully without the tiger — finding the holes that the big cats had dug and filling them with donated bags of soil. Senior Field Operations Territory Manager Kip Kimmel was part of this task group.
“One of the tigers watched us very intently from its holding cage,” said Kip. “We were working just feet away from these beautiful creatures. Our team had a great time volunteering at Kowiachobee, it was a great team building event.”
The team only spent a half-day at KAP, but they plan to return soon to complete their Volunteer PTO Day.
“Going to the Kowiachobee Animal Preserve was a fun and exciting way to contribute our volunteer time,” Field Operations Territory Manager Laura Brooke said, “I'm grateful to Arthrex for giving us the time to be able to help out places like Kowiachobee.”
Arthrex’s Volunteer PTO benefit allows employees eight hours of paid time off each year in order to give back to their community. Look for more stories of Arthrex employees using their Volunteer PTO benefit on Arthrex LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages.