Volunteer of the Month: Hawley

Aug 15, 2012

This month's Volunteer of the Month is Hawley L, our Neonatal Ward Foster Manager.

Thanks to volunteers like Hawley, we have managed to save about 1,500 unweaned kittens this year - already 50% more than last year! We've managed to do this by utilizing lots of foster homes to help, which Hawley manages.

Here's what her teammates say about her:

This is Hawley's second season as the Nursery's Foster Manager and has found homes for over 2,ooo bottle babies! Without Hawley finding these kittens a foster, the nursery would not be able to open cages to save more lives! - Casandra, APA Bottle Baby Program Manager

Hawley does a heroic job finding fosters for pregnant mamas, bottle baby kittens, gruel kittens! And then she manages these fosters -- big job, many will have kittens for 2 months or more. This is a life-saving position and she does it well! - Sharon

Hawley takes the needs of the orphaned kittens, the nursery staff and volunteers, and the overall mission of APA! to heart each and every day as she consistently strives to find foster homes for our babies.  She navigates the flood of kittens we deal with daily by developing solid relations with new fosters and helping them address any concerns that come up, and she maintains meaningful relationships with our ongoing fosters so that we have a pool of experienced caregivers we can rely on to house our babies until they are adoption-ready.  Without Hawley's dedication to this goal, the nursery could not operate as effectively as it does--we would not have the physical space to care for so many kittens (over 1,500 this season alone!) and our staff and volunteers would be exhausted both physically and emotionally.  Hawley takes the success of each foster experience to heart and is responsive to the needs of her peeps and her furry charges from beginning to end.  In fact, the two former fosters and five current foster kittens watching me write this are very grateful for her part in their lives :).  Her contribution to the overall success of a No-Kill status is but one piece of the puzzle, without which there would be a gaping hole. -Beckie

Hawley is a very patient, kind and caring person, which is what is needed in the volunteer role of Bottle Baby foster coordinator. She is always very responsive to questions and first-time fosters. She keeps immaculate records and can pretty much tell you the foster history of every Bottle Baby kitten we've had. There are a lot of fosters and kittens to keep track of, and Hawley does an amazing job.  -Shorey

We still need more fosters to get us through the end of kitten season!  If you'd like to become a part of Hawley's foster team, learn more and sign up here.