By: Arthi Venkatesh, Northwest Region Volunteer

Last summer’s Spokane County wildfires were destructive, displacing people and decimating thousands of acres of landscape. The fires took a toll on not only families, but also their pets. That was where Paige McKee came in, serving as a pet liaison for the American Red Cross.

Paige McKee is a Red Cross volunteer in Spokane, Washington, and serves on the local Mass Care Team. Part of the sheltering operation launched by the Red Cross in the Spokane County wildfire disaster operation quickly came to include multiple pets and livestock that were displaced due to the fires. 

As a pet liaison, McKee was responsible for being sure those pets were appropriately cared for and in a safe environment. McKee said she worked with multiple agencies in Spokane, including the Spokane County Emergency Services and Spokanimal, a local animal shelter, to coordinate food and supply drop-offs for the animals.

In the face of disaster, when so much was uncertain, McKee helped create a comfortable and stable environment for pets and their owners alike. One family she met during the wildfires were all sleeping in their cars to make space for their dogs, who, stressed from the fire, would crowd into their trailer at night, McKee said.

“Spokanimal provided big crates to get them outside with family during the day and smaller crates for them to sleep in at night inside the travel trailer so the family could sleep in their beds,” McKee said.

McKee’s pet liaison role is a fairly new position at the Red Cross. According to the Red Cross, the aim of the role and others like it is to assure that community members displaced by disaster will feel welcome seeking shelter, knowing that the Red Cross will provide a safe refuge for both them and their household pets. For McKee, getting to be a part of this aspect of disaster relief was incredibly fulfilling.

“Some people, having lost everything, held so tight to their animals, large and small,” McKee said. “Being able to talk to them every day, go out with them to walk their dogs, delivering pet toys and pet food…I was Santa Claus for that moment in time.”

McKee herself has had a close relationship to animals spanning her entire lifetime. She grew up with pets and has seven cats and dogs (and at one point even a turkey) of her own today.

“I love them in the best of times and in the worst of times,” McKee said. “Every day they make me laugh.”

Not only was it McKee’s close relationship to animals that drew her to volunteer as a pet liaison for the Red Cross, but also her deep appreciation for community work.

“I love missions of all kinds, and I am always drawn to the humanitarian missions, but working as a pet liaison for the Red Cross in my hometown was an honor I will always remember,” McKee said.