Lisa O'Neill

         Lisa O’Neill had been rescuing and helping animals at Angels of Assisi since 2003. She went to Illinois Wesleyan College and has a bachelor’s degree in Science and Nursing. She went to school originally to become a nurse and help people, but she has gone in a different direction when she started volunteering at Angels of Assisi. As she started working with animals, her nursing career slowly became less and less important. Mrs. O’Neill lives in both Botetourt County and locally in Roanoke. She has two children, 22 year old Jame and 18 year old Macy.

         Mrs. O’Neill works very hard to rescue the animals because she sympathizes with both the animals and the people. “I think I really brought the nursing part into Angels of Assisi by helping people. You can’t help animals without helping people too,” said Ms. O’Neill. “A lot of people are really big into animal rescue and say that ‘Oh, I hate people. People suck!’ but you can’t have this mindset because people are going to be the ones to save the animals.” Mrs. O’Neill doesn’t consider working for Angels of Assisi a job or a career, but a hobby, and a passion. At a young age she has cared for animals, and growing up her goal in life was to help people. “I’ve always loved animals and helping people, and you can really help people through animals too.”

        

         What separates Lisa O’Neil from other people is how committed she is reaching her goal, and that is to help people and animals. Her sympathy towards people and their pets is what inspired her to help them in a lot of ways.