Goathouse Refuge Board
Current Members
Siglinda Scarpa (Founder)
Larry Vellani was the Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer of Smart Start of Forsyth County, Inc. (SSFC), an eight-million dollar, community-based, early education service and policy organization in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Vellani has an extensive career in organizational change, public policy formation, and higher education advancement, holding posts in the private, non-profit sector and in the judicial branch of state government in Ohio, Indiana, and North Carolina.
Julie Williams first visited the refuge in 2013 with her sister and niece. She had been looking for a place where she could volunteer and knew immediately that our refuge was the place she wanted to be! Julie jumped right in and first began cleaning cages on Sundays and decided we needed a new kitchen sink which later led to organizing volunteers to paint inside the adoption building. Julie also began helping with fund raising by starting our annual yard sale. She has adopted 2 cats from Goathouse and still believes it is a magical place where she needs to be!
Jacqueline Marx first published essay, “The Cantor’s Cat,” appeared in *Chicken Soup for the Cat & Dog Lover’s Soul* in 1998. The previous year, she was ordained a Cantor with a Master of Sacred Music at Hebrew-Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. “I have always resonated to cats. Caring for cats soothes the rough edges of my soul; which allows me to live, and give, my best. Besides, an animal has never hurt anyone’s feelings.” Cantor Marx has a small pulpit for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in East Tennessee. She teaches voice lessons at Chapel Hill School of Musical Arts; specializes in Hebrew enrichment and Bar/ Bat Mitzvah tutorials at Judea Reform Congregation in Durham; and lives with her family in an enchanted forest in Carrboro. Two of her three felines are former GOATHOUSE kitties.
Bios not currently available for:
Monty Millard
Rochelle Millard
Judith Saunders