Our "Best Friend" Honored Volunteer

"Our Best Friends" is a weekly installment to honor just a few of our outstanding Best Friends LA volunteers. This is your chance to get to know some of the shining stars in the Best Friends LA volunteer program! Volunteers are either nominated by Best Friends LA staff or other volunteers in our program. If you would like to volunteer, e-mail the Best Friends LA Volunteer Department at volunteerLA@bestfriends.org

Clinton Downs – honored August 25th, 2014

Clinton, tell us.....

What programs and projects do you volunteer with at Best Friends LA?

I'm on Small Dogs Team, Tamara's Team and the occasional event team.

Why do you choose to volunteer with Best Friends LA?

I'm transitioning careers into music administration and still making inroads. Knowing this would take some time, I decided to spend my free time volunteering for a No-Kill system, which is something I've wanted to do since first hearing of No-Kill back when I lived in Portland.

How long have you been a Best Friends LA volunteer?

I started in January of 2014. 

What type of fun stuff do you do when you're not volunteering?

I'm a music fan so I'm either listening to music, curating playlists on Spotify (find me via ClintonDowns.com) or going to shows.

Do you have a favorite story to share about an experience volunteering with Best Friends LA?

I love the community aspect of both the center and the people inside. Everyone I meet there is interesting, doing their piece to help and so committed to the cause. My favorite moment is when I got to be a cog in the No-Kill machine as an Animal Transporter. A recent arrival needed to return to the animal shelter because his human turned up, and that meant Best Friends/I could pull a dog from the shelter for a return trip. But the dog I was supposed to pull had been adopted that morning. Two forever homes for two pups! AND this meant another dog would make it into a Best Friends bed... and what a dog she turned out to be: An adorable Chihuahua mix with an array of gnarly skin patches that left her looking mangy and ill. She just needed treatment and time, neither of which was on the pup's side at the county shelter. So as I drove carefully (precious cargo!) back to Mission Hills I felt immensely proud of being one of the many necessary, tiny, moving pieces that make the No-Kill movement possible.

Do you have any pets?

SOON!!! We just signed a pet-friendly lease so at the end of August my husband and I will adopt our dog (from Best Friends, obviously), which we hope to name Norbin. He'll be a brown-ish mixed breed under 25 pounds. Know of any we should meet?

What others are saying about Clinton Downs:

“Clinton is an NKLA Rock Star!! He is all around amazing person!! I always can count on him to do anything! We are so lucky to have such a fabulous person apart of Best Friends. He puts a smile on my face every time I see him!" Tamara Gvozdenovic, Volunteer Coordinator