All About AHA!

Our Goal...

...is to engage humans in innovative learning programs that help them to better understand and live in harmony with the many magnificent creatures with whom we we share our planet. After all:

Humans aren't the only species on Earth. We just act like it.

~source unknown

We also seek to connect people with the resources they need to understand, enjoy, and aid animals—domestic or wild.

Guiding Principles

The founding guiding principles of AHA! are:

• Humans share the earth with both domestic and wild animals, and must respect the creatures with whom they co-habit this earth.
• Many animal welfare issues are caused by human indifference, neglect, and lack of awareness. Human attitudes and behavior can be changed for the better through transformational education and creative communication.
• Humans and animals are connected through the bond of nature.
• Formal animal health and welfare educational programs require transformation to include creative strategies for serving low income pet owners and communities confronting serious animal welfare issues such as feral cat overpopulation.

AHA!'s Goals

• To generate innovative approaches to animal welfare challenges, and to actively promote and firmly instill these new approaches.
• To educate the general public about issues affecting the preservation of domestic animals and wildlife.
• To promote respect and harmony between nature, her creatures, and humans.
• To provide access to low cost spay and neuter services for all pet owners in AHA!’s service area.
• To create cooperative alliances between local governments, humane organizations, animal health and welfare professionals, and compassionate individuals.
• To provide educational opportunities to animal health and welfare professionals in a tranquil, transformational learning environment.

Who's In Charge?

AHA!'s founders bring a wealth of experience from the animal welfare and education fields. Our knowledgeable and dedicated volunteers bring more exertise, energy, and compassion to all we do.

Read the founders' stories below.

Sharon Johnson, Founder and President

Nature and its wonders have always intrigued me. I have my dad to thank for that! He made educational film strips for Encyclopedia Britannica when I was a kid. He took me out with him and we looked for interesting things to photograph. He often made me hold creepy crawly things but I enjoyed nature as well as spending time with him. The day I got stuck in a swamp, and the mud would not let me go, he came out and saved me. My hero then, my hero now.

I've worked in estate management and horticulture for 21 years, enjoying working out of doors and experiencing new nature adventures on a daily basis. (Read my bat story on our Animal Encounters page!) There are so many interesting species and creatures out there! My goal is to reveal in others the passion for nature and her creatures that's just waiting to be explored.

Deborah Cassidy, Director of Animal Health and Welfare

I’ve always felt a kinship to nature and animals. I often went on hikes with my family growing up, and was taught by my father to respect nature, animals, and all the other creatures I came across. He used to say, “I have an agreement with animals, I don’t harm them and they don’t harm me.” I therefore learned not to be afraid of spiders, bugs or snakes, and that it is a good thing to help an injured animal as well as a needy person.

I took up photography and worked as a photographer, photo editor and copy camera operator at the Daily Illini at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I obtained a fine arts degree there in graphic design with many hours of advanced photography (two hours short of an additional degree). I also worked as a graphic designer in the university’s Office of Continuing Education.

I continued photography studies at Salzburg College in Austria, taking classes and workshops with such prominent photographers as Helmut Newton and some other guys I can’t remember. I learned German there.

Back in the states, I volunteered with local shelters and humane organizations, and worked a stint at a veterinary clinic. The health conditions I encountered during these jobs prompted me into spending lots of time researching animal health issues.

A vegetarian since 1979, I've have worked in natural food stores and a vegetarian restaurant in Chicago where I met other people who are compassionate toward animals and other fellow beings and want to make the world a place where we can all coexist and treat each other humanely.

Rebecca Adler, Director of Education

My dad was a career climber, which meant my family moved a lot. One year we lived in a dirt-road town on the Mississippi river in western Illinois. This is where many of my first encounters with wildlife occurred, from the scuttling river rats that burrowed into the swampy areas of our neighborhood to the glistening water moccasin snakes that slithered along the river's banks. It was a kid's adventure paradise (and back then kids played outdoors all day long!). All of the creatures in that Mississippi River town fascinated me, and still do.

My other passion is education. I have a master's degree in adult and continuing education from National-Louis University. I've designed countless community and corporate education programs for adult learners. Nothing satisfies me more than designing a learning activity that gives someone an "aha!" moment that changes their perspective, their thinking, or even their lives.