Welcome to My Furry Valentine

Since our inception in 2012, My Furry Valentine has grown to become one of the largest animal adoption events in the country! In 13 years, we’ve helped more than 8,500 dogs, cats, and other companion animals find a home.

The Cincinnati Business Courier has recognized My Furry Valentine among the top 10 largest Cincinnati conventions and expos! Thank you for helping us grow! 

These numbers speak to the impact you can make by attending our event in support of animal adoption. You can help us rewrite the script for homeless animals. My Furry Valentine exists to educate the community about the importance of adoption, and connect animals in need of a home with those people willing to give them one – and we can’t do it without you!

Tens of millions of Americans plan to get a new pet each year and an estimated 6-8 million healthy, loving cats and dogs enter our shelter and animal rescue systems annually. However, only an estimated 10-15% of American homes get their new pet from a shelter or rescue, while millions of adoptable animals sit in shelters waiting to catch the eye of a potential adopter. And so, today in our country, nearly 1 million animals still lose their lives because no one comes for them.

We can change that

According to the Humane Society of the United States, of the 1 million cats and dogs euthanized in shelters each year, approximately 800,000 (80%) are healthy and treatable and could have been adopted into a new home. If just 1 out of 10 more people getting a new cat or dog were to adopt from a rescue or shelter, not one single healthy cat or dog would have to lose their lives. You can be that 1 in 10!

Thank you

An event this large takes a whole team of kind-hearted people with a love for animals who have contributed their time, talents, energy, and funds toward bringing MFV to Cincinnati year after year.

• to our host, sponsors, funders, and individual contributors for their generous financial support to keep this event going;

• to our and public relations, media, and radio partners who offer their expertise in promoting this event to bring in the large crowd that result in more adoptions;

• to our vendors and business donors who bring energy and excitement to the event with their product offers and raffle prize donations;

• to our rescue and shelter partners who work tirelessly each and every day throughout the year with an unyielding passion and commitment to the cause;

• to our event-day volunteers who serve in countless ways to ensure the event runs smoothly and our visitors are happy – you’re the superheroes;

• to our small, but mighty My Furry Valentine Organizing Committee who commit countless hours to the planning, logistics, and execution of the event weekend;

• and to you, our visitors and adopters for joining us for this event and giving adoptable animals a home.

Whether you join us at the event to adopt a furry companion, help out at a booth, or support the cause and get your daily fix of adoptable animals, the My Furry Valentine Team behind the scenes is thankful for each and every one of you!

The My Furry Valentine Organizing Committee

Carolyn Evans, MFV Founder

Jen Grimmett
Volunteer Lead

Jen joined My Furry Valentine in 2017 as a volunteer and quickly knew that she wanted to be more involved with this amazing organization as our Volunteer Lead. She is passionate about animals and helping all animals to find loving and secure homes. Animals have been a part of her life since birth and she feels strongly that animals are family members and provide us with unconditional love. She enjoys meeting volunteers and sharing with them a love of animals and particularly rescue animals. She is continually grateful for all of the volunteers that continue to come back year after year to show their support of this amazing event.

You may also see Jen’s now grown children volunteering at the event in several capacities. Her son loves participating as the Scooter the Neutered Cat mascot!

Shay O’Brien
Social Media Lead

Shay came on board with My Furry Valentine in 2015 as an event volunteer prior to taking on a larger role with the My Furry Valentine Organizing Committee as a Social Media Lead and more recently helping with Rescue & Shelter event participation as well. You may have seen her in the My Furry Valentine live videos if you watch on social media leading up to and during the event –  and likely crying in a few videos as she does feel pretty deeply for every animal in need of love and a home. Shay is passionate about her desire to help homeless animals and volunteers with community rescues and shelters (Cincinnati Animal CARE & Proud Pups, Inc.) throughout the year. Shay is also a three time adopter from the event (Embry from Louie’s Legacy, Jonesy from Louie’s Legacy, and Lorna from Proud Pups Rescue, Inc.). 

When not volunteering with animal rescue, Shay is busy as a co-host and writer on the Cinister Explorations podcast, facilitating paranormal investigations, and working as a Marketing Director at LasikPlus. 

Katie Mosure
Donations Lead

Katie Mosure started off with My Furry Valentine as a volunteer back in 2019. She joined the My Furry Valentine Core Team in 2021 as a Project Lead, then moved over to the role of Donations Lead in 2022. She loves coordinating the large amount of donations that come in each year, giving animal-loving businesses and individuals in Cincinnati the opportunity to participate in the much anticipated visitor raffles and adopter raffles.

Lisa Jones
Vendor Lead

Lisa Jones was hired by Carolyn Evans in the Fall of 2017 to be My Furry Valentine’s Event Manager. She met the team and jumped right in on organizing all the logistics for the February 2018 event. She was eager to play a part in what was already a large and successful mega-pet adoption event and remembers being blown away by the ize of the crowds and the number of animals that were adopted during the event that year. After February, she started planning for the first Summer 2018 My Furry Valentine event. She continued in her role as Event Manager thought the 2020 event before starting a job with LasikPlus as the Events Team Lead. She continues her involvement with My Furry Valentine now with the small and mighty organizing committee primarily as our Vendor Lead – building relationships with the outstanding vendors who participate during the event weekend. Lisa has loved animals her entire live and is so proud to be a part of this amazing event. 

Colleen Starr
Graphic Designer

Being surrounded by dogs growing up, Colleen always had a soft spot for helping animals.  She volunteered for MFV for the first time in 2019, and has been a part of the core team since 2020. Colleen is a Graphic Designer and had been looking for a way to use her design skills to help out in the community. She loves being able to use design to bring attention to this amazing event! She can’t wait to add a sweet rescue pup to their family in the near future!

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Erin Fezell
Technical Support Lead

Erin can easily be summed up by three things: artist, geek, Ramen Enthusiast. A recent transplant to Cincinnati, she is a lover of all animals but admits to having a soft spot for cats. After a friend suggested she volunteer in 2022, Erin’s technical talents quickly caught the eye of Jen who asked for her to take charge with all things technical the following year in 2023. Erin has yearned to be a part of the community and is beyond honored to use her technical passions to help others. 

When not helping with all-things-of-the-IT-purrrrrrsuasion for My Furry Valentine, Erin is a Consulting Platform Engineer for HCA a hospital corporation based out of Nashville, Tennessee. Additionally she runs her business, KeyHolder Creations, which makes custom vintage-inspired 3D printed products.