Lakes Animal Friendship Society (LAFS) is a Canadian non-profit working to improve the lives of companion animals in our local communities around the Village of Burns Lake in northern BC. We are a registered charity in Canada.
We believe that happy, healthy animals are part of happy, healthy families and communities.
Our Board of Directors
Valerie Ingram is a certified teacher and president of the Lakes Animal Friendship Society (LAFS). She has over twenty years of experience teaching all grade levels but spent much of her career teaching kindergarten. A lifelong love of animals and a commitment to teaching care, compassion and respect made humane education a logical career move—even at no pay! Valerie volunteers in classrooms around the community and northwest BC. She also mentors others who volunteer in communities across the region.
Valerie’s husband Alistair Schroff is a forester and volunteer with LAFS. While he has difficulty keeping up with Valerie’s passion and enthusiasm, he brings some business experience and helps with community cat house building, bookkeeping, proposal writing and whatever else needs doing!
Valerie and Alistair joined forces with Hayley Nielsen to start Lakes Animal Friendship Society in 2009.
Hayley Nielsen is a former RCMP officer. A long-time animal lover, Hayley has helped many community members with pet food, fostering of animals and re-homed animals in need of forever homes. Her husband Ken built the first doghouse for the LAFS Doghouse Project.
Our board also includes Brad Bell, a local college instructor.
Here are some other key LAFS folks you might “meet on the street”:
Logan In his own words: “Hi my name is Logan. I love all animals. I have 2 dogs. One is named Apollo and the other is named Max. I also have 2 cats. One is named Smokey and the other is named Monkey. I have 10 chickens and 1 rooster named Bill. I and responsible for feeding the dogs, cats, and chickens. I have been working at the MacEwen Park for about a month and love it.”
Julie Harrison lives on a ranch near Burns Lake with her husband, four dogs, two cats and two horses. From a young age she knew she wanted to work with animals! She went to college for a veterinary assistant diploma and was inspired to get into training by her adopted dog Sam. Julie has worked for the Comox Valley SPCA, vet clinics, and in her own business Roving Dog Adventures and Training. She loves helping people understand dogs and is excited to introduce them to therapy dog-in-training Clive!
Lyssa McDonald grew up in Prince George, but her family spent every holiday and long weekend out at her grandparents’ house on Francois Lake. She has been an animal lover her entire life, and is very excited to have been given the opportunity to help animals, families and the community in the Lakes District. Here is Lyssa with her dog Goomba.
