17/05/2023
From the SPCA's page:
Once again, we have incredibly difficult news to share with you. We've lost our beautiful Paws for Love Coordinator, Debbie Braun.
Debbie's passing Saturday night was not completely unexpected...she’s been battling an illness for quite some time...but the rapidity of her decline WAS unexpected. The family...we all...believed there was more time left with this kind and loving soul.
Debbie came on board as Paws for Love - A Program of the SPCA Serving Erie County Coordinator in 2006 and grew this program beyond any expectation. What started as a few volunteers visiting a few nursing homes turned into hundreds of volunteers visiting hundreds of locations, and not just medical sites.
Under Debbie’s leadership, school/college students, victims of domestic violence, mourners at funerals and wakes, stressed travelers at the airport, and many, many more received moments or hours of healing and love because of our volunteers and their pets; we can't begin to enumerate the thousands upon thousands of people whose lives have been touched by Paws for Love through our incredible volunteers and through the efforts of our Debbie.
Her loss will be felt not only by family and friends, not only by the SPCA, but by an entire community who did not even know how hard Debbie was working behind-the-scenes.
Debbie's obituary can be found at bit.ly/DebbieBraunSPCA .
Those who would like to share special memories of Debbie or how, through her guidance, the Paws for Love program touched their lives are encourage to email [email protected] . With these emails, the SPCA will create a special memory book for Debbie's family.
Condolence cards and/or other notes to be shared with the family can be sent to Gina Lattuca, SPCA Serving Erie County, 300 Harlem Rd., West Seneca, NY 14224, ATTN: Memories of Debbie.
A celebration of Debbie's life will be held at the SPCA Serving Erie County Sunday, May 21, 1 p.m. - 5 p.m. Debbie's family and Paws for Love volunteers and pets will be available to greet visitors and share favorite stories and memories of Debbie (SPCA Adoptions and animal viewing areas will not be open).
To those organizations and business that have encouraged Paws for Love visits, and to volunteers past and present who have participated in this program, we thank you for recognizing the importance of the bond between animals and people, and for believing in an animal’s ability to provide moments or hours of solace to those in any type of emotional need. This bond is what Debbie believed in with her whole heart and soul, that to which she dedicated much of her life, and this belief is the motivation behind ensuring Debbie’s legacy, the SPCA Paws for Love program, lives on.
bit.ly/DebbieBraunSPCA
View Deborah L. "Debbie" BRAUN's obituary, send flowers and sign the guestbook.
