This month, we’re spotlighting foster Kim Williams! Kim has been fostering all sorts of cats and kittens for the last ten years, and joined SAFe Rescue in April 2019. Kim’s enthusiasm for helping animals is truly infectious, and we’re so grateful for all the hard work she dedicates to kittens in need.
Her optimism has been especially valuable recently. In the last four months, SAFe has moved all of our adoptions online to protect the community’s health and safety. This has been a huge undertaking that wouldn’t be possible without the help of our fosters. Kim was there from the beginning to help us build the new adoptions procedures (and show us a thing or two about how cute cats can be on Zoom). As one of our first online pioneers, she worked with the adoptions and foster teams to engineer the new contact-free system. Kim’s fosters Bagel and Fast Eddie were even some of the first kittens to find homes virtually.
Kim says that fostering kittens has been a bright spot during the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only have her kittens brought some joy to a difficult time, but they’ve also served as foster ambassadors to Kim’s coworkers, who love cheering them on during video meetings.
When it comes to cases, Kim’s seen it all. URI’s, fearful kittens… You name it, she knows what to do. Kim’s most recent foster cases include two very bubbly brothers, and two undersocialized sisters who needed some extra help to come out of their shell. As anyone who has fostered can tell you, taking care of vulnerable animals is deeply emotional work with lots of highs and lows. Kim’s advice to folks thinking about fostering is to prepare for the joy, frustration, sadness, and triumph, and to know that the hard parts are all in service to the end goal that Kim says is the biggest reward: finding cats a loving home. “There’s the great moments like hearing a newly socialized kitten purr for the first time or watching them conquer steps for the first time. But nothing beats knowing they have found their forever family,” she says.
Thanks so much to Kim for her outstanding work with the kitties of SAFe. We appreciate all that you do!
