Krystal Parish’s Passion for Pets: Minoru Yasui Community Volunteer Award

From left: Meredith Allin, Manager of Development and Engagement, July Minoru Yasui Honoree, Krystal Parish, Eileen Lambert, Executive Director, Nikki Tollefson and Marie Hackett

Posted by cindypiggott505 on YourHub on July 13, 2023 in Adams County, Arapahoe County, Denver, Douglas County, Jefferson County, South Jeffco

During challenging times, food banks make a tremendous difference for those people struggling with food insecurity. But challenging times also affect those with pets and their concern that the four-legged members of the family are also fed. Colorado Pet Pantry recognizes and addresses this need. The 2023 goal of Colorado Pet Pantry is to feed 115,000 pets for a month at more than 100 monthly pet food banks throughout the state of Colorado. Their mission is to ensure that all families in a neighborhood have the resources to consistently feed their pets, keeping them out of shelters. Volunteers are a huge part of this mission and on July 5th, Krystal Parish was honored with the Minoru Yasui Community Volunteer Award for her extraordinary volunteer efforts at Colorado Pet Pantry.

For the past six years, Krystal Parish has done it all. In addition to her full-time job, and occasional volunteering with other organizations, Parish regularly gives 10-25 hours weekly to the Colorado Pet Pantry. She not only helps fill regular volunteer needs, but she also goes above and beyond seeking out fundraising opportunities and other ways to help the organization grow and continue to meet the rising need in the community. Parish played a huge part in one of CPP’s most successful fundraisers. She suggested the idea and spearheaded the campaign to send nominations for Colorado Pet Pantry to NEXT with Kyle Clark’s “Word of Thanks” micro-giving campaign on 9News. As a result, CPP raised more than $63,300 in one week. That effort continues as new donors chose to give recurring monthly donations.

Parish is the driving force behind the CPP auctions and fundraisers contributing to their success. She solicits and secures a large portion of the donated items and works endlessly organizing and creating packages and gift baskets to maximize bids. She is a master at making connections and has proposed and executed many new and innovative ways to help CPP raise funds. All of her efforts literally pay off as contributions continue.

As a volunteer, Parish regularly fills spots needed to keep the organization running smoothly including a monthly position at the food bank in Conifer. She leads many outreach events and is fine hauling truckloads of pet food to areas where transportation is a challenge. In addition to all that, Parish runs a mini pet food bank at her place of employment IKEA. Thanks to her dedication and volunteer efforts, Denver IKEA employees have their own spot to grab pet food and supplies when times are tight.

In her nominating letter, Nikki Tollefson wrote, ” Krystal is quick to respond to any needs that arise. When the Troublesome wildfire occurred in Grand County, Parish ran the emergency response and distributed pet food and supplies to those who lost or were displaced from their homes.” She went on to say, “Krystal is generous, kind, hard-working, forward-thinking and entrepreneurial. She is a very valuable asset to our organization and could not be replaced. She is passionate about the cause and that comes through in everything she does!”

Eileen Lambert, executive director and founder of CPP added, “Whenever my phone rings and Krystal calls, she begins the call with, “I was thinking. . . ” and it is always an amazing idea. We are so lucky to have Krystal as a volunteer at Colorado Pet Pantry.”

Jane Goodall once said, ” What you do makes a difference and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make!”

Colorado Pet Pantry makes a difference for pets throughout the state and the community that loves them. And so does Krystal Parish.

The Minoru Yasui Community Volunteer Award continues to celebrate extraordinary volunteers in our community. To date, $994,000 has been awarded to 520 non-profit organizations. The award is named in honor of Minoru Yasui, a Japanese American, who came to Denver and spent his career acting with vision, perseverance and compassion. He was known for his courage and his advocacy. He valued integrity and inclusion. This award honors those unsung heroes in our community whose energy and passion change lives. The Minoru Yasui Community Volunteer Award is a program of Spark the Change Colorado. Together, we hope to inspire a movement of good through the power of volunteerism, service and engagement. If you would like to nominate an outstanding volunteer, learn more about the award or donate to this award, please visit minyasui.org.