Meet the new Friends of Michigan Animals Rescue Board of Directors

Please help us welcome the new Friends of Michigan Animals Rescue Board of Directors. We have added a few new faces and a couple of new positions. We even updated a position or two as well. We hope you are as excited as we are about our plans to move forward.

Pete LaFramboise – President and Co-founder of FMAR

Marcia LaFramboise – Vice President and Co-founder of FMAR

Kathryn (Page) McLaughlin – Treasurer

Page's dedication to FMAR and her experience at Bayloff Stamped Products, gave her the experience she needed to take over the responsibilities of Treasurer for FMAR. She is doing a great job and the transition feels seamless to everyone. Page has proven to be a team player and dedicated board member since day one. Page's enthusiastic approach to her new role and what she continues to bring to the team proves she is the right person to fill this position.

Heather Adams: Secretary

Heather's experience from her past and current positions at the University of Michigan as well as her willingness to listen, learn, and then get it done, is proving to be an asset to our team. She started out as a cat volunteer and has blossomed into a very important well rounded and total part of the shelter team where she continues to learn new operational and hands on medical tasks. Heather is not afraid to try new things even when it proves to be a huge challenge. Heather finds things that need to be done and moves forward with them, even if it means taking a class to learn more. Heather is always on the look for shelter help and improvements. Heather is a very important team member and we are pleased to have her on the FMAR Board of Directors team.

Linda Luke: Events Coordinator. 

Linda will take over this new role (previously called fundraising coordinator) because she has shown leadership in this role with her gift of communication, professional story telling and past role as a teacher for the LincolnSchool District. Retirement has not slowed Linda down and in fact, she continues to get involved with the community in several different capacities. Linda travels to Florida for the winter months so this very important fundraising role will allow her to be active even when she can't physically be with the team. We are proud to have Linda as an FMAR board member.

Orsi Dezsi: Grant Writing Coordinator

Grant writing is a new position to the FMAR board but it has always been a very important and vital (behind the scenes) role for the FMAR Board of Director's team. Caring for the animals as well as having the resources needed to give each animal that comes to FMAR the care they need and deserve is #1 on our priority list.  Starting community programs and keeping them running is also very important to FMAR.  Orsi comes to the board as a graduate student of EMU, specializing in Grant writing for non-profit organizations which makes her the perfect choice for this vital position. Timing is of the essence in grant writing and Orsi has jumped in with great enthusiasm researching, finding, and submitting grant requests on behalf of FMAR. We are looking forward to working with Orsi as she leads the FMAR grant writing team.

Eileen (Weezey) Russell: Volunteer Coordinator

We have needed someone to take the lead in this very important role since FMAR started. We have tried to make it a volunteer position but have failed to give it the attention it needs and deserves. Eileen retired from Ford Motor Company where she worked with a diverse group of people with huge personality differences. True to her word, Eileen started out as an FMAR volunteer the day after she retired and has proven to be a true leader who can take on any task and get it done with little or no direction.   Eileen loves to organize and talk to people and has become especially passionate about the animals and the operations of FMAR. We are excited to have Eileen (affectionately known as Weezey by her friends and family) join our FMAR Board of Directors team.

"Our first obligation is to the animals, and then to the volunteers of FMAR.  Our goals include finishing an addition on the current shelter, and then building out the new, bigger shelter.  That way we can increase our capacity and our programs since the need continues to grow."