Craig Neilson

Craig Neilson has been doing volunteer work for animal welfare organizations for 11 years. He was inspired by his wife Pam's rescue work and a small dog named Droopy who, Craig says, "caught our attention at a local shelter. When she died, she said, 'Save my people.'"

Working with Friends of County Animal Shelters (FOCAS) and St. Nicholas Hope for Animals, Craig and his wife have rescued 450-500 dogs from their local shelters and Mexico in the past 11 years. Besides rescuing animals from Mexico, Craig leads work parties there to set up a humane society as well as work on getting spay/neuter clinics in operation.

Craig also volunteers for the San Diego Animal Support Foundation. As a member of the board of directors, he helps to raise money to buy equipment for shelters, transport donated food, and distribute funds to local rescue groups. He works closely with a media person to promote pet adoptions on TV 32 times per month. In addition, he works with several area clinics to provide free spay/neuter coupons for rescue groups, and occasionally drives the SNAP Neuter Scooter, a mobile spay/neuter bus.

Working with Alex Pacheco and David Meyers, Craig helped find funding for 1-800-Save-A-Pet.com. He has also helped Spay/USA and Actors and Others for Animals post billboards promoting spay/neuter in Los Angeles, Tucson, Cleveland and Cincinnati.

What does he enjoy most about volunteering? Craig loves finding a perfect home for a pet and driving away from a spay/neuter event knowing that each pet fixed helps to stop the cycle of overpopulation. He tells people how they too can get involved in rescue so they can have a house full of unconditional love. He says, "It is nice to be involved with the people as much as the fur buddies they save."

When he's not volunteering for animal causes, Craig runs an advertising specialty company called Logo Inc.