SPOTLIGHT | The People of PAW

Meet Dani Dreifach
Chair, PAW Junior Advisory Board
Volunteer, Social Media Manager

Last year, when her 20-year-old cat Rayna passed away, a grieving Dani Dreifach found that going to the Montclair Animal Shelter and interacting with the cats lifted her spirits.  

"I stumbled upon the shelter at a time I needed something to hold onto," says Dani, 17, a senior at Montclair High School heading to NYU in the fall. "And helping the animals feels really good."

Dani jumped into volunteering, primarily tending to the cats and leading the shelter's Paws to Read program, where young children come into the shelter and read to the animals. "Kids learning to read can benefit from reading aloud," says Dani, "and it helps to socialize the cats."

"A lot of people say it's sad to work in a shelter," she says, "but it's nice to care for them and awesome to watch them get adopted."

In 2022, Dani, along with Karen Sacks, Founder of PAW and chair of the Friends of the Montclair Township Animal Shelter (FOMTAS), cofounded the school club "FOMTAS at Montclair High School," which supports the shelter and promotes animal welfare.

​It was in her childhood when Dani first fell in love with a cat, after her family adopted a black long-haired kitty -- Rayna -- abandoned during Hurricane Sandy. Rayna was the center of the family's attention until two rescue dogs later joined their pack. 

This past summer, while volunteering at the shelter, "a cat named Rosa was kind of a mean cat," says Dani. "I built a relationship with this cat, we took her home to foster and we ended up adopting her."

Always eager to help animals in need, Dani launched and manages PAW's social media pages. She is also serving as Chair of PAW's newly formed junior advisory board to help promote animal welfare to a new generation of animal lovers. She is excited to continue in both roles remotely while living in New York City and attending NYU.

"Dani is simply amazing," says Sacks. "We couldn't be more grateful for her hard work and her passion for animals. She gives me so much hope for the future of animal welfare."