FIVE ELVES OF INTEREST
STORY AND PHOTOS BY GREG GARDNER
For Polly Campenni, volunteerism is a balancing act
58
between her concern for cats and her drive to educate
nonprofit organizations on how to get the best
efforts from their people.
“I feel so passionate about these very different causes,”
Campenni says. “My heart is with the cats, and my head is
with the people. My enthusiasm makes me want to engage
people and inspire them to greater commitment. I’m a volunteer
cheerleader.”
Five and sometimes seven days a week Campenni can be
found at Domino’s House Cat Rescue League in Palm City,
a no-kill, cage-free shelter and home to more than 150 cats
awaiting adoption. Her behind-the-scenes efforts are making
a huge difference.
“She has changed Domino’s House so the volunteers enjoy
their stay here,” says President Maris Sine. Blushing from the
conversation, Campenni steps away. “I’m going to pet some
fur,” she says as she heads to a room where the cats know
her. She calls them by name as she strokes each one — Riley,
Herbie, Waldo, Topaz, Patticake …
“Polly has brought us to a different level in public awareness
of our work and civic responsibility for people to spay
and neuter their animals,” Sine says. “She’s an exceptional
person, and we benefit from her organizational skills and
compassion. We have 22 volunteers, and if someone can’t
come in she takes up the slack.”
“As our profile has been raised, our volunteer team has become
larger and more engaged,” Campenni says. As a board
member, she has started a newsletter for volunteers, and has
contributed to the making of a 2011 calendar featuring adopted
cats. Sales of the calendar will benefit Domino’s House.
The Winter Whiskers Wonderland fundraiser is scheduled for
Dec. 5 in Hobe Sound.
“I clean and I feed, but I like the socializing the best,”
Campenni says. “It adds to the quality of their lives. For me it
is a great sense of personal satisfaction to help a creature who
through no fault of his own has lost his home.”
One week out of each month, Campenni lives in New York,
where she works with her husband in his real estate management
business. That leaves the other three weeks to donate
time to Domino’s and nurture nonprofits. “I had plenty of
people problems in my career and I wanted to work with
animals,” she says. “I enjoyed it.”
With a 30-year corporate career in human relations at a
Connecticut publishing company behind her, Campenni
brings a specific skill set to the Executive Service Corps of
the Treasure Coast, an arm of Martin Volunteers under the
United Way.
“We’re an all-volunteer consulting group to help benefit
non-profits on the Treasure Coast,” Campenni says. Writing
job descriptions, making executive assessments, performance
counseling and rewriting bylaws to comply with current law are
some of the services the group provides to 501(3)(c) non-profits.
“It keeps me in the professional HR human relations field
and I can do it around my travel schedule,” Campenni says.
“They are mostly smaller organizations. We are helping them
develop pragmatic solutions that benefit their staff. You put
processes in place to allow management and staff to excel.”
The Boys and Girls Club of Martin County is one organization
that has benefited greatly from Campenni’s expertise.
“Polly has been an invaluable resource to us,” says Suzanne
Wentley, communications director. “She has helped us with
a variety of human resources needs we have had over the
years. She has always made herself available when we
needed her help. It is all volunteer, the work she does for us.
We love working with her and she’s really a blessing.”
At the end of the day, Campenni comes home to six cats,
Burt and Ernie, Heather and Patti, and Tip and Lilly, who
were adopted from Domino’s House. “I thought four was our
limit, but I was wrong,” she says. “Six is our limit.”
The
CAT
TENDER
SEASON OF CELEBRATION