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Meet Our Board of Directors  Heidi Walker -President Heidi entered the world of rescue as a volunteer for a PA based group, and spent several years building a foster network on Long Island. Her own first foster was a dog she pulled in mid-winter from a shelter in upstate New York. The mussed and matted YorkiePoo smelled so badly that, to keep from gagging, Heidi wrapped her in several towels and drove home with the windows open. In the spring of 2010, after learning from the PA rescue that no further dogs would be sent to NY for fostering or adoption, Heidi started her own Yorkie rescue on Long Island. Yorkie911 Rescue was incorporated in July 2010 and received its 501(c)(3) status shortly thereafter. Expanding from its established base of volunteers and foster homes, the rescue has continued to grow and thrive.   Dr. Deborah Wheat - DVM Advisor Dr. Deborah Wheat began her veterinary career as a young woman in her hometown of Baldwin, Long island. She loved the animals of her neighbors and soon started work at various animal hospitals and groomers in the area. After high school, Dr. Wheat received her Bachelors of Science Degree from Hofstra University. She went on to receive her Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine from Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine in 2004. After receiving her degree, Dr. Wheat moved back to her home on Long Island to begin her career. She first began practicing at Bellport Animal Hospital and Family Pet Clinic. She has recently opened her own practice in Bayport, Long Island called Bayport Veterinary Hospital. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Yorkie 911 Rescue. Somehow, between school and career, Dr. Wheat found time to marry her loving husband Matthew. Dr. Wheat and her husband have two beautiful children, Owen and Josie, who are already looking into the medical field at ages five and three respectively. She has also extended her family to the four-legged variety as well. Dr. Wheat has a 10 year old Bull Mastiff named Lulu, a ten year old Yorkie mix named Frida and two cats named Benjamin and Earl. All of Dr. Wheat’s furry family are rescues. Dr. Wheat believes that all animals deserve a home and they provide the love and support every family needs.
Sophie’s lifelong passion for animals began in childhood with her adored Fox Terrier. Her long list of doggy loves has included such diverse breeds as Rottis, Dobies and Shepherds, Irish Wolfhounds, Chihuahuas and Yorkies. After meeting Heidi in the corporate world, they learned they had something in common: their compassion for animals in need. It wasn’t long before they were collaborating on rescue work. While Heidi focused on Yorkies, Sophie and her husband, Gary, a semi-retired golf pro, focused on both Yorkies and Chihuahuas. Then, when Heidi formed Yorkie911 Rescue, Sophie was one of its founding members. As Director of Human Resources for Perfumania Holdings Inc. in Bellport, NY, and given the challenge of balancing business, travel and family, Sophie is now a full time foster mom, while remaining an active member of our Board. When she and Gary retire, however, their goal is to open a sanctuary for older dogs in South Carolina, forever blending her passion and compassion for all things dog.
To say that Angela Cano wears many hats would be an understatement. After leaving the corporate travel world behind, the lifelong animal lover put her passion for all things dog into compassionate and constructive good use by joining Yorkie911 Rescue in 2011. Why? Because in Heidi Walker, she had found a kindred spirit and a friend. Dismayed by the appalling condition of the dogs being rescued, she promptly registered for grooming school. Being a professional groomer permitted us to be the lucky recipient of her expertise as she both grooms our incoming dogs and keeps them meticulously maintained while they’re in foster care. As a single working mom of 4, Angela has still found the time – and the loving devotion – to not only care for her own happy pack of pups, including four Yorkies, but she has fostered and rehabilitated countless others since joining the rescue. In her own words: “I find such pleasure in helping these pups transform into their beautiful selves, and I love being involved with such a great rescue organization.” Angela’s newest “hat”? Distressed by the medical conditions of the dogs we save, she is now working towards her Associates Degree in Veterinary Medicine at Purdue University. Her favorite quotation is: “It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” And Nicole is living proof of that. She readily admits never knowing the love of an animal until she got her first two Yorkies in 2005. Believing she was doing the right thing by going to a breeder not a pet store, she was, sadly, proven all too wrong. Her dogs’ many illnesses, her passion for research, and her drive to effect change led her to the world of rescue. For several years, she assisted people she met online, urging them NOT to give their pets away for free, but place them with rescue groups instead. Then she met Heidi and happily joined Yorkie911 in 2010. A Proposal Manager for H2M Architects and Engineers for the last 17 years, she, husband, Fred and stepson John (a star high school baseball player and recent graduate) currently own four Yorkies (two sets of brothers and sisters), because, as Nicole says, “everyone always needs a friend.”
Mary Patmidis-Goodrow - Director of Social Media
In June 2012, she attended her first "Rescues Rock the Runway" event and after meeting Heidi, she never looked back. As a stay-at-home doggy mom to Pebbles, her own Yorkie, Mary became a full time volunteer, starting with home visits and transports and leading to her participation in all things fun and fundraising , from event planning and sponsorship appeals to spreading the rescue word through her many media contacts. The following June, she proudly foster-failed when she adopted Philly, who was later trained as a therapy dog. Now Mary and Philly pay weekly visits to a seniors residence, with other venues soon to be added. Mary admits nothing is as rewarding as the smiles her small Yorkie brings to the faces of everyone he meets, even if it's for the briefest of times. Her children have always had four legs, legs that fashionista Pebbles proudly displays as she dons the latest in doggy couture for various fundraisers during the year. "They say you go through life looking for your purpose," states Mary, "a place to feel your worth. Fortunately I've found that place. Working with Yorkie911, while my two Yorkies give back in their own doggy ways."
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