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Kay Baker -- a Paxton, Illinois native who grew up in Urbana, moved to Monticello in 1974, and now lives in rural White Heath -- adores her children Gina, Cindy and Sam, and her grandchildren Haley and Tristan.

But animals are her passion. Wild animals. Stock animals. Domesticated animals. All animals.

She freely admits she doesn’t understand people who think animals don’t qualify as family. Kay still mourns Lucky, a Lab mix that adopted her family in the dead of winter 13 years ago. So does Lakota, an 11-year-old Siberian Husky Kay adopted from the Animal Hospital of Monticello.

Why does Kay support the Piatt County Animal Shelter? Kay learned from her parents to love and respect all living things. She cannot tolerate cruelty to animals and firmly believes every community has a responsibility to alleviate animal suffering.

And how does Kay help the Piatt County Animal Shelter? She talks!

• She talks to the community president of the Monticello branch of First-Mid Illinois Bank and Trust, where she has worked for the last eight years as a teller. She talks to the principal of the White Heath Elementary School. She talks to Mary Ann, owner of Doty's Jewelry. She shares her enthusiasm for the shelter with anyone willing to listen.
• She talks about how animals give us so much. They're always happy to see us; they comfort us when we're lonely; they try to cheer us when we're sad. Their love is unconditional.
• She explains animals are dying needlessly in shelters and in the wild because people thoughtlessly allow their pets to breed.
• She points to the proven link between animal abuse and child/elder abuse.
• She describes how her granddaughter Haley loves to talk about when she helped her Nana rescue two lab puppies from Interstate 72. (Thank goodness for fruit roll-ups! Ask Haley why -- she'd love to tell you the whole story.)
• She spreads the word about all the shelter's past, present, and future fundraising efforts, including the shelter’s Buy a Paw Print campaign. This campaign not only helps animals, but helps children participate in the effort to establish the Piatt County Animal Shelter while teaching them to treat all animals with compassion.

We’re certain if presented with a potential volunteer concerned about lack of skills to help the shelter, Kay would simply laugh and say, “If you can talk, you can help!”

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