Melissa Sorrell has been working at Ball State University for 20 years as the UTS Labs Manager and is currently in a phase-out of retirement. Sorrell hopes to spend her free time after retirement working full-time at the Animal Rescue Fund (ARF) to help animals find their forever homes. 

Sorrell’s volunteering journey began at ARF. She felt a loss of purpose once her kids grew up and started building their own lives. 

“I didn’t want just work to be my life. I wanted something with purpose and to feel like I was contributing,” Sorrell said. “So, I tried a couple of things, but I ended up at ARF.” 

Sorrell dedicates her love for animals to her dad after watching him show compassion towards animals growing up. However, Sorrell’s main passion is cats. 

“I actually started with both cats and dogs, but I found that the dogs got adopted so fast that I hardly got to know them, and then they were gone. People around here tend to prefer dogs, although in other parts of the country, cats are preferred,” said Sorrell. “I found myself in the cat house more and more just because they had more needs that weren’t always being met.”  

Sorrell is an advocate for cats at ARF and provides information pertaining to the needs that cats have in shelters. Cats require fostering, especially during kitten season where both the mom and kittens need to be monitored. Space and time are the biggest concerns when adopting cats. Luckily, Sorrell herself found two of her own cats at ARF and gave them forever homes. 

If you’re ever interested in volunteering for ARF or fostering some animals of your own, reach out to Sorrell for additional information!

 

Gracie, Eugene, and Callie are Melissa Sorrell’s rescue cats!