A retired teacher and housewife, I have volunteered as a foster with Furry Friends for 3 years.

Three years ago, my daughter brought home a senior cat she had adopted in college. When she moved out, her idea of giving that cat a happy home for its last years motivated me to become a foster. I started searching for shelters in need of fosters and Furry Friends was the first one that contacted me. Since then, I’ve fallen in love with every kitten and cat I’ve ever fostered.

I began volunteering as a foster for Furry Friends after retiring several years ago from my longtime position as a Medical Director with Pfizer Pharmaceuticals.

 I have loved several darling moms who nursed and taught their beautiful babies the way of the world, which brought me tremendous joy and endless laughter. Then there was Sweet Potato, an obese 12-year-old orange cat with food allergies who shed constantly, followed by Nori, a petite, elegant, curious and utterly adorable black kitty with the most beautiful eyes, who endlessly ran after a red laser pointer on the floor. Although I cry every time they’re adopted, I know there will always be other ones for me to foster and to love

Simply called Libby, I began volunteering with Furry Friends after finishing high school five years ago. I work from three to four hours at the Halfway House on the Monday PM shift.

 I became involved because I was looking for something constructive to do, and since I love cats, it was a perfect fit. Besides my assigned work, I’m also the go-to person for administering medications and handling the “feistier” cats that others are less comfortable being around. This is what I enjoy most: interacting with them because I understand them.

I have volunteered with Furry Friends for nearly a year. The reason I did was because my co-worker and friend is the volunteer coordinator, and she was always talking about the cats. It made me want to get involved too!

 I volunteer every Sunday for about two hours, depending on how much there is to do. What I love most, beside cat cuddles, is seeing cats get more comfortable, friendly and confident over time. It breaks my heart to hear about the sad circumstances they sometimes come from. But, on the flip side, seeing their resilience and their willingness to open themselves up to new people touches my heart.

I have been a Sunday PM Halfway House volunteer since May 2022 and spend from one to two hours there a week.

 My tasks involve feeding and medicating the cats, making sure their rooms are cleaned up and that they have fresh bedding and clean litter boxes. Then I get to enjoy socializing with them (this is the best part), while learning each cat’s unique personality and quirks. My proudest moments are seeing long-time residents being adopted, knowing that they’re getting well deserved forever homes!

Alli Miller who goes by “Alli Cat” has been volunteering with Furry Friends for three months.
Working at East Padden Animal Hospital as a veterinarian nurse, assisting vets, handling and performing treatments on in/out patients, she heard about us through her job. “Sometimes Furry Friends brings sick kittens in to be seen,” she explains. “At other times, we’ve contacted them in situations where a kitten or cat either needs help or is being surrendered.

I have been volunteering with Furry Friends since August 2023, but I previously volunteered with them for a few months back in 2016 or 2017, when I was still in high school.
Always passionate about animals, I had been looking into some local shelters and animal organizations to get involved with, and I happened upon the website for Furry Friends. I’m so glad I did! 

I have volunteered with Furry Friends since February 2022.I had been searching online for no-kill cat shelters that I could make a donation to. I followed Furry Friends FB page, saw they were seeking volunteers and signed up. I used to volunteer every Tuesday, but since my work schedule has become more demanding, I’m now a volunteer substitute. (I work as a project manager for a fire alarm/low voltage company during the day and am a full-time cat mom at night).

 I have volunteered with Furry Friends for 3.5 years. I was looking for some meaningful volunteer work, and since I’ve always been an animal lover -- especially of cats – it was a perfect fit.

 Retired after a long career in Corrections, I worked with juveniles for eight years and then adults for 27 years when I worked for Washington County. I am a widower and my late wife and I always had at least two cats in our household. Two weeks after I started volunteering with Furry Friends, I met a 1-year-old orange tabby named Cheddar. We hit it off immediately and I took him to his forever home, my condo, and we have been inseparable ever since. He weighed 9.5 pounds when I brought him home and he quickly grew to 14 pounds in his secure environment. He even walked all over the complex grounds with me like a dog, and everyone recognized him and liked him.

I have been volunteering with Furry Friends since November 2023. I volunteer 2+ hours a week and try to help out if they need help with transporting or anything else.

 I had been volunteering at the local animal shelter and found that it wasn’t very personable. Cleaning, caring and socialization were rushed, so I looked around for an organization with a meaningful mission and purpose and discovered Furry Friends. Besides giving love to the cats, I LOVE my fellow volunteers. They are a fun and wonderful group of people who care deeply about what they are doing!

A retired social worker and chef, I have volunteered with Furry Friends since the autumn of 2022. My husband and I moved here from Portland, where I had volunteered with the Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon for several years, and learned about Furry Friends because Linda Rader lives in our neighborhood! Meow about a small world. I have had cats all of my life (there was probably one in my crib), and my husband and I lived with two cats in an RV for five years as we travelled for work.

I have volunteered with Furry Friends for 13 years. When we moved to Vancouver, I wanted to volunteer with a cat rescue and kept seeing Furry Friends when I Googled cat rescues. They were close to our house and a small organization, so it was ideal. I’ve made many wonderful friends through the organization and I’m always happy to tell people about them. I watched them grow from adopting out fewer than 100 cats a year to several hundred cats a year. It’s amazing to see all of these kitties saved and then go to their forever homes.

Although I’ve been volunteering with Furry Friends since July 2023, I had known about them for a while. Then, in the spring of 2019, a neighbor asked for our help with a pregnant stray kitty hiding in their outside vent. We investigated and found a beautiful, scared but very friendly silver tabby, not chipped and either lost or abandoned. FF took her in. Although I’d wanted to volunteer for them then, I wasn’t able to do so. But, after losing several four and two-legged family members over a short period, I saw a FF post for a shift that needed volunteers. The timing couldn’t have been better! Volunteering has helped me work through some very difficult times while helping the kitties. Kitty hugs, purrs, and nose boops are the best therapies ever.  

Sandi Long’s involvement with Furry Friends began in the spring of 2011 when she wanted to adopt another kitty. “The cat I had been interested in wasn’t available, but as I was leaving the shelter a beautiful gray kitty with a white chest and long tail started following me,” she laughs. “When I stopped, he stopped and just stared up at me with his huge yellow eyes.” Sandi decided to sit down on the floor so they could get to know each other. That was the day Sushi found a new home. He is now 16 years old, and sleeps on or next to her pillow each night. A few months later, she adopted a beautiful black Manx kitten from Furry Friends. Vegas is 11 years old and dotes on her brother to the point of annoying him at times!

I have volunteered with Furry Friends on and off since 2010. I started at Pet Smart in Hazel Dell cleaning cages and socializing with the kitties being featured for adoption by Furry Friends there.

 I work several hours a week “behind the scenes,” doing graphic design and website maintenance. I’m currently re-designing the entire website to make it more user-friendly. In the past, I’ve done everything: from working Halfway House shifts in all three locations, attending park events and painting murals to running fundraisers and fostering kitties. (Not only have I designed many of the t-shirts and other merchandise Furry Friends sells, I’ve designed many of the logos that we use for our annual fall auction).

I’m unique in that I volunteer my writing skills to this amazing rescue in Vancouver, WA from my home in Toronto, Ontario, Canada! As for the journey that brought me here?

Words are my passion and were my profession. A journalism graduate from The American University in Washington, D.C., I’m the bestselling author of seven novels, one work of non-fiction, two volumes of poetry, and hundreds of articles. I’ve also been an advertising copywriter, industrial editor and the Public Relations director of a major hospital.

I started socializing at Furry Friends about five years ago. My father’s cat had passed away and I found a cat named Grayson on the Furry Friends’ website. When we came in to adopt him, I asked if they had any volunteer positions, and that’s how I got started. In fact, I started just as Jamie Garver began her tenure as President, allowing me to see all of the wonderful changes being made at FF.

I have been volunteering with Furry Friends since February of 2023. I decided to volunteer at some sort of rescue when I started to “get an itch” to get another cat! I thought that volunteering would scratch that itch and I wouldn’t have to adopt another one. Two months later, we adopted our little girl Rhubarb (previously Phoenix), who joined our 5-year-old Siamese mix named Rosie and our 3-year-old German Shepherd named Juniper.

I began volunteering for Furry Friends in June 2023. Eager to add a third cat to my family, I embarked on a mission to quell my feline yearnings. Opting to explore volunteering at a shelter as a potential solution, I discovered Furry Friends during my search for suitable cat shelters. Despite my initial intent to satisfy my cat cravings through volunteering, the inevitable happened: I ended up with a third cat anyway. It seems my love for these furry companions knows no bounds!

I began volunteering with Furry Friends in December 2022. I wanted to do something more with my life, so I posted on the NextDoor app asking about local volunteer opportunities.

Furry Friends was suggested with overwhelmingly positive reviews! Because I hadn’t been able to get a cat of my own since moving out of my parents’ house, I was desperate to get some “cat love,” so I went for it. (I’m a young adult still finding her footing in life after graduating from WSU). I applied online and the rest is history.