Nicole Quattrocki - The Face Behind Fix Chicago

“The real warriors in this world are the ones that see the details of another's soul. They see the transparency behind walls people put up. They stand on the battlefield of life and expose their heart's transparency, so other's can finish the day with hope. They are the sensitive souls that understand that before they could be a light they first had to feel the burn.”
― Shannon L. Alder

If you were looking to get involved with a local charity organization and you love dogs, Fix Chicago is the perfect match. Nicole Quattrocki is the founder of Fix Chicago, which is a not-for-profit organization changing the system and root problems to save all dogs and cats not just one at a time. The organization supports rescues and shelters but it is forming community based solutions in underserved areas to help keep dogs and cats out of the already full shelters.

Tell us a bit about your background: 
I am a creative entrepreneur who started out going to school for design at Columbia College. I worked in fashion, hospitality and education, but I believe all previous experiences both personally and professionally led me to live my purpose - Fix Chicago.

What inspired you to start Fix Chicago?
I started Fix Chicago after a few years of volunteering in the community and understanding how our shelter system was operating. Last July, there was a lot of attention in the community regarding lack of transparency since our then previous mayor had fired Susan Russell who seemed to have tremendous buy in from the rescue community and was doing a great job at lifesaving. I began learning about root problems and lack of transparency that continued to contribute to us still killing our Chicago shelter animals and had to do something about it.

What is your personal story with animal killing and how you relate to it? 
I adopted two of my rescue dogs from a government owned and operated open admissions shelter over a decade ago. Prior to adopting them I was oblivious to what it was like to own a bully breed and to what conditions were inside the very shelter in which I saved my girls. Through education years later I realized the shelter in Missouri where Gigi and Kyah came from at the time were killing 7 out of every 10 animals under their care and had no life saving programs in place for getting animals out and helping to prevent them from coming in. I couldn’t help but think so often that if I didn’t get them out that day they would have been killed.

What did it take you to create Fix Chicago? 
Everything! I gave up my personal life to build the foundation for Fix Chicago. Every day I would come home from my corporate job in education and work until bed on Fix Chicago.

How can others get involved? 
Please fill out a form on https://www.fix-chicago.org/volunteer-1 .
We are always looking for professional volunteers with government affairs knowledge, policy, marketing and/or fundraising and will be recruiting more boots on the ground volunteers for future events and community outreach we begin doing at the end of this year (2019) and early next.

This is the photo contest we need people to contribute to and vote for so we can run a campaign for our Chicago shelter dogs on the CTA: https://www.gogophotocontest.com/fixchicago

For anyone who simply wishes to donate:  https://www.fix-chicago.org/donate 

Follow Fix Chicago on Social Media at FixChicago2019