National Volunteer Week is officially in April, but at VOKRA every week is volunteer week! We are so thankful for our hundreds of volunteers and fosters. VOKRA truly would not exist without our volunteers. These dedicated folks give their time to ensure the kitties in our care get everything they need and are adopted into loving furever homes. One of these dedicated people is foster and foster coordinator Jen Duggan.

This April, we’re very pleased to be honouring Jen as our Volunteer of the Month. Jen was nominated by her fellow foster coordinator Deb McEachnie who says, “Jen does everything with a huge smile and a positive attitude. She’s successfully fostered many types of cats, but the bottlefeeder kittens are her forte. She happily takes them in and cares for these wee kittens as if she was their own birth mother, getting up throughout the night to feed and care for them. If they're not completely healthy, Jen's inner nurse comes out and she does everything she can to help them get well. Jen’s a true cat lover and wants to help every cat in need that she possibly can.”

Here Jen tells us in her own words why she volunteers with VOKRA:

How did you start volunteering with VOKRA?

Sally, one of Jen’s semi-feral foster fails

Prior to volunteering with VOKRA, I volunteered at the RAPS Cat Sanctuary from approximately 2002-2012. I took some time off but really missed the experience of working directly with kitties. I had been thinking about becoming a foster parent for a few years but hadn’t yet submitted an application for a couple reasons – 1) we had four resident kitties and 2) we were afraid we would fall in love with every foster and wouldn’t be able to say goodbye when the time came (spoiler alert – we did keep two!). A couple of popular Instagram fostering accounts really convinced me to give it a shot. It just so happened one of my coworkers was a VOKRA foster parent already and highly recommended it to me – so I put in my application. I received my first set offive scared foster kittens in June 2019, and the rest is history

How long and in what capacity have you been volunteering?

Since our first litter in the summer of 2019, I’ve had the opportunity to foster many kinds of kitties including tame kittens, semi-feral kittens, drying up mamas and even bottle feeders! Due to the pandemic, I began working from home and that allowed me to begin taking bottle feeders in the summer of 2020. Since then, most (but not all) of my fosters have been bottle feeders. I’ve had approximately 25 fosters come through our home since I started fostering - some for short periods of time,and some for much longer. Beginning in December 2020, I also began volunteering as a foster coordinator in the Surrey/Langley/Abbotsford area. There’s always a great need for foster coordinators.

What is your favourite part of volunteering?

My favourite part is working directly with the kitties. I love taking a starving newborn and seeing it grow into a strong, thriving kitten with a nice big belly! I love tiny baby biscuits and little newborn purrs! I also love working with semi-ferals to gain their trust and make them into house cats. All of the hard work (and occasionally scratches) that goes into taming semi-ferals is worth it when you hear that first purr. The first time my most stubborn semi-feral purred for me I literally burst into tears (happy tears!). It’s an amazing feeling knowing you’ve helped change their life for the better.

Do you have a favourite kitty(s) you have met or a favourite story from your time with VOKRA?

Harriet was found with her siblings next to a busy road when they were less than 24 hours old

I fall in love with every single kitty that comes to me for foster. I wish I could keep them all! I have managed to only foster fail two semi-feral kitties so far!

One of the most memorable sets of kitties I have taken was a group of four approximately four-week-old kittens (Frankie, Freddie, Norman and Cooper) that were found after a Good Samaritan heard a kitten crying all night on a rural property. When volunteers arrived they found one kitten on the roof of a house, screaming. (No one knows how the kitten made it up there!). Upon inspection, the team found three more kittens under a deck, where they had to cut into the deck to retrieve them. One of the babies was in very rough shape and volunteer Alia took in this crew and cleaned them up. Once they were all stable, they came to me. Two of the four were bottle feeding and the other two were weaned already. If it hadn’t been for the little screaming tabby (Frankie) and their amazing rescuers, those kittens likely would not have made it. They’re all living happily in their adopted homes now.

Bowen was found crying inside a mattress on a porch in Surrey

THANK YOU Jen for everything you do for the kitties! The time and dedication you put into helping ensure our foster kitties are well taken care of is truly appreciated.

As a volunteer-driven non-profit, we clearly couldn’t do what we do without our extremely dedicated and hardworking team of volunteers. Thank you to each and every one of you!

VOKRA’s always in need of volunteers. If you’re interested in volunteering click here.

Volunteer of the Month - April 2021

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