BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Peaches Delight
Hatterman
Peaches Delight Hatterman passed on April 24, 2022 in the arms her loving family, Dawn & Philip. It was peaceful, sunny, and calm on her backyard deck as Princess Peach had decreed it should be.
Ambassador Emeritus Peaches was a KC Pet Project alum. She was 9 years old when she met volunteers Dawn & Philip. After a couple months of visits and walks, Peaches convinced them to take her home for a foster weekend. Her sweet and low-key personality stole their hearts.
Peaches was adopted on February 2, 2016. She was a social butterfly and easily made friends with both humans and dogs. She was the “Norm” of Bar K Dog Bar, where everybody knew her name. When not roughhousing with Great Danes or bossing other dogs around, Peaches loved hanging out with puppies and modeling how to play.
Peaches has an extensive modeling portfolio. She was patient with most costumed photo shoots. When Peaches was off the clock, she loved napping with Big Chop, long walks, deer watching and Dentastix. An ideal day for Peaches was laying on the deck bed soaking up the sun with her BFF, Rosa the Dog.
Peaches joined the Board in 2016 as the Official Ambassador of Rosie Fund. Medical diagnoses at the end of 2021 required her to scale back her activities but she still lived her best life, continuing to fulfill her duties with beauty, grace, dignity, and charm. 2022 became the Year of Peaches—a celebration of her spirit. She will always be loved and never forgotten.
Allyn Meireis
Working with animals has always been in Allyn's life plan. She began volunteering with a local animal shelter at the age of 11 years and jokes that she hasn't left since.
Allyn worked with two local veterinary offices while obtaining her Veterinary Technician degree; then moved on to join Great Plains SPCA and later worked as an Animal Control Officer for a local municipality before landing with KC Pet Project. She is currently the Manager of Canine Behavior and Enrichment at KC Pet Project.
Allyn and her husband Jake keep their house full with two "itty bitty pitties" (Macy & Kora), two kitties (Maverick & Solo), and a constant stream of foster animals!
Tory Whitaker
Tory has always had a passion for animals. She began volunteering at the local animal shelter in her hometown of Fort Smith, Arkansas when she was a teenager.
She obtained her bachelor’s degree in biology from Centenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana. After graduation, she worked at a chimpanzee sanctuary for over three years helping care for over 200 chimpanzees that were retired from government owned labs. In 2016, Tory made the move to Kansas City, Missouri to work with chimpanzees at the Kansas City Zoo and in 2018, she joined the elephant team at the zoo.
Tory has Olive and two cats, Bailey & Murphy.
Dawn Hatterman
Dawn has always been fond of animals. Her sister was a Veterinary Technician and often brought home new pets to the family farm in Nebraska. Her brother raises and trains French hunting dogs, Braque du Bourbonnais.
After graduating from Nebraska Wesleyan University with a degree in Communications, Dawn moved out of state. Work and apartment life weren’t a good combination for having a pet.
She married Phil in 1996 and moved into a house without a fenced in yard. Phil will tell you that Dawn was the one who always wanted a dog. Phil always wanted one, too, he just didn’t know it. Now that yard has a fence.
Dawn worked in higher education for 28 years and completed a Master of Arts Liberal Studies from University of Missouri- Kansas City. She retired from Metropolitan Community College- Maple Woods after 25 years in Student Services and Administration. While there, she served on the Veterinary Technology Program Advisory Board for 12 years. Dawn volunteers at KC Pet Project and is a Branch Programming and Community Engagement Associate at Mid-Continent Public Library- Woodneath.
Philip Hatterman
Phil grew up on a farm in Nebraska with working dogs, usually a Border Collie or a Border Collie mix. While he loved those dogs and continued to have a soft spot for dogs as an adult, he could never see himself as a dog owner in the city. Dogs needed to run free outdoors. Keeping a working dog in the house or confining them to a little yard seemed unfair to the dog.
To get his “dog fix,” Phil would spend time with friends’ dogs. Eventually, he and Dawn volunteered at KC Pet Project. He realized that most of these dogs were not going to find homes on a farm. Many of them were going to be city dogs and they needed forever families that were going to make this the best environment for the dog.
Dawn had wanted a dog for a long time. Her prodding along with the experience of fostering Rosie made Phil a dog owner once again.
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Phil is the president of the creativity consulting firm Corkscrew Agency, LLC, and a freelance writer.