Rescue, Rehabilitation, Adoption, Education
FPR Officers, Coordinators & Managers
Florida Parrot Rescue is an all volunteer run organization, and that includes not only our fosters, but our officers, managers and coordinators as well. Most of our managing team hold full time jobs and have families to care for in addition to volunteering for the rescue anywhere from 20-40 hours a week, so this is one dedicated (and multi-tasking) group of people!
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Jennifer James – President, Director and Founder (registered officer) Jen J. is the President, Director and one of the founders of Florida Parrot Rescue. She not only holds a full time job managing a local veterinary practice, but she also is happily married with 3 children and a flock of her own (consisting of dogs, cats and whatever foster passes through her home). Her responsibilities include fundraising, recruiting, communicating with potential adopters and fosters, helping at community events, speaking with the media and managing the rest of the officers, managers and coordinators. |
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Karen Atwood - Vice President, Intake Coordinator, Social Media Manager, Educational Outreach & Website Coordinator Karen is responsible for coordinating all of the birds that need to come into rescue as well as coordinating and working community events in the south Florida area. Karen also focuses on recruiting, training and managing new fosters and volunteers and establishing guidelines and policies, as well as writing the FPR newsletter. Karen also handles the FPR facebook page, twitter account and Flickr account. Karen also upkeeps the FPR adoption website. She is also Mom to 4 human children (all girls, ranging in age from 7 to 25) and several animal children (dogs, cats and of course parrots – including the infamous Coco the goffins cockatoo - all rescues!) and has been happily married since 1997. She also fosters for the rescue (and can give you information on co-habiting multiple species of companion animals and children) and is experienced with Parrotlets, Lovebirds, Cockatiels, Conures, Eclectus, small Cockatoos and Mini Macaws. Karen also volunteers for the Humane Society in Tampa where delivers dog and cat food to homebound elderly people and where she walks dogs, socializes cats and helps with adoptions, and in the past has volunteered with various other organizations, including Save Our Seabirds in Sarasota, Cat Call in Brandon and the SPCA in Largo/Clearwater. |
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Laura Bebko – Treasurer/Accountant (registered officer) Currently the Treasurer of Florida Parrot Rescue, Laura has been volunteering since 2010 assisting with all financial aspects of the organization. She graduated from Washington & Jefferson College with a degree in Accounting and has held jobs in the Public and Governmental sectors. Laura currently works as an accountant for a property management company and is in the process of obtaining her CPA license. |
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Nicole B – Lead Foster Coordinator & Southwest Florida Foster Coordinator Nicole is the Lead Foster Coordinator and the Southwest Florida Foster Coordinator and has been with the rescue since early 2011. She and her husband Jake joined the rescue to foster birds and to volunteer. She fosters medium and large birds and is responsible for recruiting fosters, coordinating the intake of birds into rescue in her area and communicating with her fosters. Nicole also plans and executes many community events in her area in order to spread the word about FPR. She has been happily married since 1995 and has one daughter and a house full of rescues including one Shar-Pei/Lab mix, a Burmese cat, a Patagonian conure, a Congo African Grey, and a hermit crab. She has always had a soft spot in her heart for all animals and starting bringing home “lost animals” as a child. In addition to volunteering for the rescue Nicole works full time as a Registered Nurse. |
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Jennie P – Adoption Coordinator Jennie is responsible for coordinating, reviewing and processing all incoming applications for adoption for Florida Parrot Rescue. Jennie has been with Florida Parrot Rescue since early 2012 and loves working with humans and feathered babies alike! Jennie is happily married to her husband Owen, who also volunteers with FPR. She is Mom to 2 human boys, Ben (24) and Jon (22) and often has exchange students living with the family year round. The families animal children include two Congo African Greys, four Amazons, a Nanday Conure, and two Great Danes. She also fosters for the rescue and is experienced with Parrotlets, Parakeets, Lovebirds, Cockatiels, Conures, Quakers, Greys, Amazons, and small cockatoos. Jennie also volunteers for the Humane Society in Tampa where she has earned her “gold shirt” award for ther many hours of volunteering and fostering. Her “paying” job is being a mobile Notary performing closings, she is retired from the School District of Hillsborough County and loves traveling with her husband around the world. |
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Jennifer S – Database and Petfinder Administrator and Central Florida Foster Coordinator Jennifer S. joined Florida Parrot Rescue in June 2009 with her husband Mike, to foster birds and volunteer for events. Jennifer’s role as FPR Database Administrator was created as it became necessary with the growth in volunteers and the larger numbers of fosters coming into the rescue. Jennifer also updates and maintains the websites Petfinder.com and AdoptAPet.com for Florida Parrot Rescue and has now also taken on the role of Central Florida Foster Coordinator. Jennifer and Mike are owned by their feathered kids: Julie the Senegal, Lois the lovebird, Charlie the Quaker, TJ the cockatiel, Petey & Penny (cockatiels) and the fosters that have come and moved on to forever homes. Jennifer grew up with birds and animals in the household. Her curiosity of birds started to develop when her mom brought home Snafu the Cockatiel when Jennifer was 10 years. Mike knew very little of parrots until he met Jennifer and now he can hold his own when asked questions. Jennifer and Mike have regular full time jobs outside, but like many FPR members, we wish our only jobs were to help the rescue full time! |
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Lorry B - Avian Supply Store Manager & South East Coast/Northwest Coast Florida Foster Coordinator Lorry is the Avian Supply Store Manager and has been with the rescue since 2010. She fosters small, medium and large birds. Lorry also fills the role of South East Coast and Northwest Florida Foster Coordinator and with those roles she is responsible for recruiting fosters, coordinating the intake of birds into rescue in her area, communicating with her fosters and handling events in her area. Lorry has always been a “Don’t Shop, Adopt” advocate. When she realized there were rescues for parrots it seemed natural for her to put her passion for birds and for adoption to good use as a volunteer. Her husband, Chris, is also her partner in crime. She loves all parrots, large and small, but her heart especially belongs to cockatoos. She particularly loves the challenge of working with the wounded souls and the special needs birds and she shares her home with a number of them, both personal pets and FPR fosters. |
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Sherry L – Fundraising Chair Sherry has had a life-long love of animals starting from her earliest memories of being on her grandparent’s 50 acre farm in Pennsylvania and grew up with a dog “Yogi” and a cockatiel named “Mischief” that her brother rescued. Sherry is married to her husband for more than 20 years, Ron, and they have two children, Ben and Sarah (all of whom volunteer for FPR!). Their non-human children consist of Sandy (collie), Frankie (spaniel mix), Rio (mustache parakeet), Grey and Sterling (African Greys), and Chip and Cookie (gerbils) all of which have been adopted from various shelters or rescue groups. Sherry owns her own travel agency and when she is not busy with that, she is volunteering at her children’s schools or at events around the community. |
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Chris B – Post Adoption & Educational Consultant Chris has always loved animals of all kinds having been raised with father who farmed as a hobby and later working as a volunteer for the Henry Doorly Zoo. Birds were always a special passion with parrots being especially captivating. After meeting his future wife, Lorry, he discovered she too had a special place in her heart for parrots and so began a journey into living with companion parrots. Not long after getting a parrot they were bombarded with people asking if they could take their bird. Eventually realizing there were rescues for parrots, a passion for parrots turned into a passion for rescue. He has particularly taken an interest in working with behavior problems in cockatoos and macaws. They are often misunderstood and their owners overwhelmed with the complexities of living with an animal that is at best only a few generations removed from the wild. His goal is to get more people to keep their companions instead of feeling compelled to re-home the bird. Often a person feels like a failure and that they are not able to work through the sometimes difficult task of living with a messy, destructive and loud creature. However, many times all that is needed is a little patience and for someone to help the owner understand what is going on inside the mind of a bird. Success in living with parrots requires an open mind and a desire to never stop learning, and he believes anyone committed to those two things can be a great home for a bird. |
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Joann W - North East Florida Foster Coordinator
JoAnn lives with her husband, Shawn and sister, Nancy, along with a dog, cat and two parrots. She worked for many years in sales & marketing and has owned two successful businesses. Volunteer work has expanded her experience to include fundraising and public education in humane animal care. Born and raised in Vermont, she now enjoys the warm, sunny weather in central Florida. After growing up with asthma and not being able to enjoy the companionship a pet can offer, JoAnn has spent the past many years making up for lost time. She has owned and cared for several different types of animals, including cats, dogs, rats, alpacas and parrots. After beginning as a volunteer for Florida Parrot Rescue, JoAnn graduated to fostering and soon became the proud mom of her adopted amazon, Kizmet. Danny, an adorable, young eclectus parrot joined the family several months later. |
