Pet Overpopulation Prevention (POPP) of the Tri-Cities Welcomes New Team Members
POPP is starting 2026 of with growth! POPP has officially welcomed three new team members: a new Board Member, a new Vet Technician, and a Marketing and Community Outreach Coordinator. Get to know the new team members and their roles at POPP.
Jessia Rinker: Board Member
Jessica first became involved with POPP due to her love of animals and a desire to make a difference for animals who lack representation. She began supporting POPP events as a real estate agent; this involvement led to current board members encouraging Jessica to pursue open-board positions. She recognized that she had skills and a network that could make good contributions to help support POPP even more.
In December of 2025, Jessica applied for and accepted a new role as a POPP board member.
“As a board member, I hope to help POPP grow its visibility, funding, and community engagement,” said Jessica. “I want more people to know who POPP is, what they do, and how vital their work is.”
She is excited to help POPP grow, and in doing so, help even more families and animals.
Jessica is originally from Zillah, WA, in the lower Yakima Valley. Due to her love for the area, she moved to the Tri-Cities in 2013. In her early career in the Tri-Cities, Jessica taught for 12 years with the Pasco School District. Now Jessica works as a real estate agent with eXp Realty, helping clients buy and sell homes and specializing in finding pet-friendly properties.
In her free time, Jessica fosters dogs through POPP and spends time with her own dogs and cats: Remy, Carmine, Oscar, Maisy, Marley, Zoey, and Spike as seen below! She has two children, a daughter in college and a son who works as an EMT here in the Tri-Cities.
Grace Clark: Marketing and Community Outreach Coordinator
Finding a marketing person has been on the agenda for POPP ever since the opening of the spay and neuter clinic in Pasco. With new growth initiatives, in late 2025, POPP hired Grace to serve as the new Marketing and Community Outreach Coordinator.
As the Marketing and Community Outreach Coordinator, it is Grace’s job to increase visibility for POPP’s foster/adoption program and spay and neuter clinic. She will work to amplify POPP’s voice and brand to the entire Tri-City area.
“I’m so excited to work with POPP. Not only is preventing pet overpopulation an important mission to the community that I live in, but it’s also significant to me personally,” said Grace. “Plus, I get to talk about helping cats and dogs all day, what’s not to love?”
After attaining a degree in Marketing from Oregon State University, Grace primarily worked in Marketing within the System Integration industry. She has worked both as an internal Marketing Coordinator and as an Account Manager for a marketing consulting firm.
The oldest of four daughters, Grace was born and raised in Portland, OR. She moved to the Tri-Cities in 2024 with her husband, who works in the nuclear industry. When she’s not helping POPP with marketing, Grace spends her time painting, writing, and enjoying time with her friends. She is also the proud mother of three rescue kitties: Starlight, Moondust, and Moxie as featured below.
Eli Ortega: Vet Technician
Eli Ortega is the POPP Spay and Neuter clinic’s newest vet technician.
After graduating from Yakima Valley College with a degree in Veterinary Technology in 2020, Eli began her career at a vet emergency hospital. She started in Yakima and then transferred to Pasco later that year, working 12-hour night shifts to help animals in emergency situations. While she enjoyed the variety of work in the emergency hospital, Eli was looking for a career shift.
After finding POPP’s open position as a vet tech, Eli quickly fell in love with the mission and applied. The rest is history!
“I was looking for something that felt like ‘home,” said Eli. “I really like that I can utilize the skills that I learned in emergency vet medicine here.”
Eli has had a love for helping animals ever since she was little.
“I knew I wanted to help animals in a healthcare type field; I’ve always known that I like to nurse things back to health. I always brought strays home, telling my mom we need to help spay/neuter cats outside our house,” explained Eli. “My Grandmother, the one who kind of got me interested in the field, had a background in medicine. She would volunteer at animal hospitals and keep track of different strays to make sure they got vaccinated and spayed/neutered.”
In her free time, you can find Eli walking her two dogs, Papas and Otter. She also has two lovely cats named Jack and Oreo. Eli also spends time strength training and doing crafts, such as crocheting and jewelry making.
Eli speaks fluent Spanish and is excited to help POPP expand its reach into the Spanish-speaking community of the Tri-Cities. She’s passionate about making the work of POPP available to all people in the community.
More Than 30 Years of Helping with Pet Overpopulation in the Tri-City Area
Founded in the Tri-Cities in 1995, POPP brings more than 30 years of dedicated work promoting responsible pet care and preventing pet overpopulation in our community. What began as a small, volunteer-driven effort that was focused on fostering and adopting, grew into something much larger. In 2020, POPP opened its spay and neuter clinic in Pasco, a long-held vision finally realized. Since then, POPP has continued to expand its reach and impact, and it isn’t about to slow down in 2026 or beyond.
With the addition of three new teammates, POPP is ready to expand its impact and help even more animals in need.
If you would like to volunteer with POPP, please apply here.