Cappi Patterson, MPH

President, Buddy Nation

Cappi holds a Masters degree in Public Health Administration and started her career as a hospital administrator in New York City. She then opened her own consulting business working with public and private organizations, designing socially conscious projects. Moving to San Francisco, she became involved in the AIDS crisis. This was at a time when people with AIDS were dead in six months, with no cure or options. Cappi, an animal lover all her life, started the PAWS (Pets Are Wonderful Support) program, taking care of the pets of AIDS patients. Upon moving to Ventura, she started helping homeless people and their pets. Buddy Nation helps homeless people keep their pets by providing pet food, veterinary care, shots, licenses, spays/neuters, microchipping. It partners with Ventura County Animal Services in many efforts and works in collaboration with public and private agencies to take care of the pets. They help them get into housing and off the streets. Everyone in Buddy Nation is a volunteer. “Sometimes, people call me to chat or vent their frustrations; something so small, but so important. All volunteers are mindful that the people we help were once just regular folks, with jobs, homes, families, purposes in life. To that end, we treat people as neighbors who have fallen on hard times. What Buddy Nation does is not rocket science, just common sense.”