Our Volunteers

Crystal Creek Rescue > Our Volunteers

We are an all-volunteer group comprised of about 15 people who work as fosters, transporters, bottle feeders, and adoption coordinators, skilled colony site assessments, trapping, feral cat surgical recovery, supply ordering, data collection, phone, email, Facebook responders, fundraising/grant writing, shelter building, microchip registry, cat photography, social media posting, PR with local media, cat care classes, QuickBooks accounting, state and federal filings, banking, bill paying. We try to match our interested volunteers with their areas of expertise, so they can fulfill a productive role within our organization while lending us their talents and know-how.

We still need people to help with much of these tasks to help lighten the burden but also to allow us to expand and make a bigger impact on the Northwest Arkansas cat community. You can learn more about how to get involved on our Volunteer page.

Lead volunteers

Along with our volunteer board members, we have several key leadership positions.

Olivia Nagel

Founder and Executive Director

An animal advocate for over 20 years, has lobbied Capitol Hill with HSUS and attended several TAFA conferences. She ran small TNR operations in and around Paris, VA. When she moved to Bentonville she was shocked to learn they didn’t have an animal shelter and found the treatment of cats by city officials, law enforcement, and some residents not only inhumane, but counter to state laws.

She started Crystal Creek to address the neglect she witnessed while living in Northwest Arkansas. She has been inspired by the dedication of many in the community, from board members, volunteers, and adopters to veterinarian Dr. Leeth Harper and his dedicated staff at Village Pet Hospital, who make CCR’s work possible.

Cheryl Canfield

TNR program, Winter Shelter program, Colony Care, Education

Cheryl has over 20 years of TNR experience with cats across NWA. Living in Rogers, she devotes her time to the critical and neglected feral cat population and managing public outreach or feral issues.

Alyssa Woods

Volunteer

A long time animal advocate is our go-to person for injuries, medications, and care, when we can’t reach our veterinarian. She is a patient foster to older and chronically ill cats, raising their baseline, and stabilizing them so they can be adopted.

Susan Abrams

Volunteer

Fostering for two years with shelters and now CCR, she is superb at caring for bottle-fed kittens who otherwise would die. She has trained her daughters in kitten and cat care and under her watchful eye and dedication, she has turned a feral mom friendly, no easy task. Susan, a resident of Fayetteville with plenty of her own cats and dogs to keep anyone happy.

Shannon Splitorff

Volunteer

New to fostering and TNR, she saw a problem in her neighborhood and acted to stop the breeding and neglect of feral cats and kittens. She reached out to CCR for guidance and handily spayed these felines. The feral cats have a feeding station and all the kittens have been adopted, including a foster failure, Fenwick now added to the family inventory, which includes a retired racing Greyhound.

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