10/12/2026
The Golden Paw Award is a monthly recognition honoring volunteers who go above and beyond in their dedication to our shelter and the animals we serve, nominated and voted on by shelter staff and volunteers.
This month, we are thrilled to recognize Christian Bikle as our Golden Paw Award recipient! 💛
Christian is one of our newer shelter volunteers, but he certainly didn’t ease into volunteering - he jumped in with both feet (and plenty of helping hands)! He is consistently one of the first people to answer the call when we desperately need extra hands on deck at the shelter, especially when it comes to helping with the day-to-day animal care and cleaning that keeps everything running smoothly. And somehow, he manages to do it all with a smile on his face!
But Christian’s contributions don’t stop when he walks out the shelter doors. He is an incredibly creative problem solver who has a knack for noticing the little things that could make life easier for our staff and volunteers. Without being asked, he has donated his time, skills, and 3D-printing talents to creating solutions for some of our everyday shelter challenges. He has made specialized holders for our laundry detergent jugs to make tackling our mountains of daily laundry a little easier, clips designed specifically for our various garbage cans to make taking out the trash less of a hassle, and wall-mounted holders for the many, MANY boxes of disposable gloves our staff go through every day, and so much more! Christian sees a small problem, thinks, “I bet I can fix that,” and then actually does!
And, as if being a dedicated volunteer, talented problem solver, and resident shelter engineer weren’t enough, we have also recently discovered that Christian is a phenomenal cook and baker! He routinely shows up with homemade goodies for our staff and fellow volunteers, and his treats never fail to bring smiles to everyone’s faces.
Christian has quickly become such a wonderful part of our HES volunteer family. Whether he is scrubbing kennels, solving a shelter “problem” with a 3D printer, or showing up with something delicious for everyone to enjoy, he consistently finds ways to make HES a little better, and a whole lot happier!
Christian was nominated by two separate volunteers who said the following:
“Christian sees a problem and creates a solution. Without prompting, he spends his own time designing and 3D printing helpful things. Not only is he enthusiastic about helping around the shelter, he's going the extra mile to solve the everyday annoyances that we all spend time working around. His friendly demeanor, creative spirit, and problem solving are such great traits that we really hope to find in our volunteers.
Chris is such a valued member of the volunteer team. He jumps right in wherever needed and for whatever tasks are needed, changing his schedule to help fill needs, and does so with a smile. His dedication is truly inspiring to us all, staff and volunteers. PS - He even made lunch for everyone on Labor Day!”
Christian has quickly become such a wonderful part of our HES volunteer family. We truly appreciate everything he does for our shelter, our staff, our volunteers, and, most importantly, the animals in our care. We can’t wait to see what shelter problem he and his trusty 3D printer decide to tackle next!
