After Joshua and his wife Kelli began fostering for Furry Friends two years ago, they quickly got involved with the Halfway House. Joshua then signed up to be a permanent sub, but soon found himself as a regular full-time shift volunteer for two hours on Wednesday nights.

He trains many of the new volunteers, a duty he and his wife split and occasionally do together. As fosters, they have a room in their house dedicated to kittens. He likes to joke that it’s 90% Kelli and 10% Joshua, but it’s truly “all hands on deck” and they share the joy, the cleaning, and the hardships together.

His biggest challenge — and heartbreak – is seeing cats abandoned or given away. He sadly admits that he will never understand people who give up on their kitties. On the other paw, his favorite part of volunteering, he says, are the cats who deserve everything they can give them, and the people. His Wednesday night crew is amazing. They keep each other up on all their news, they care about each other, and working with them is a highlight of Joshua’s week.

His proudest moment as a foster involved a blind, malnourished kitten left for dead that their litter accepted and raised as one of their own. The icing on the cake? Friends of Joshua and Kelli adopted him, proving once again the commitment of Furry Friends’ devoted adopters, making all of the fosters’ efforts more than worthwhile.

Despite being allergic to cats, and owning a golden doodle named Remi, when Joshua met Kelli who was a cat person, they found special shampoos worked wonders! That and falling in love with a smart and sassy, kind and unique kitty called Xena. The couple foster failed early in 2023 with Evee who, together with Xena, are the light of his life, and complete their family. He’ll be forever thankful to Furry Friends because we brought Evee to them.

Joshua, who’s currently a manager for a team of Financial Advisors, has always volunteered somewhere and he even started a charity many years ago. Proud to call Vancouver home, and passionate and keeping it clean, he and his wife consider themselves “litter stewards” and help clean up litter on the streets.

As to why he gives back to an organization like ours, he answers, “Cats can’t advocate for themselves. Cats can’t voice their needs. I’m constantly surprised by how empathetic people can be while others are without compassion. That means we have a group of people taking care of the cats that other people abandoned.”

Among his various talents and hobbies: he can name every country in the world and other geography fun facts. He speaks Spanish, plays the ukulele and drives a Vespa. He loves to garden and is proud that he uses no harsh chemicals on his lawn.
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Furry Friends Volunteer Spotlights are compiled and written by Nomi Berger who is the bestselling author of seven novels, one work of non-fiction, two volumes of poetry, and hundreds of articles. She is a volunteer writer for Furry Friends in Vancouver, WA and also volunteers her writing skills to animal rescue groups in Canada and the USA.