Volunteer of the Month - March 2022

This month we’re celebrating Ashra Kolhatkar, the lead of our foster coordinator team. Ashra volunteers her time supporting our foster coordinators, liaising with our various teams to ensure kitties are placed in the most suitable foster home and so much more. The list seems endless!

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

How did you start volunteering with VOKRA?

I’d heard about VOKRA from a friend and my partner and I had just moved to our first pet-friendly apartment, so we immediately decided we wanted to adopt a pair of kittens. We found our boys, Callister and Adanac (formerly Gus and Saunders) and officially brought them home at the end of April 2017. Once I had learned a bit about VOKRA, I knew I wanted to get more involved.

How long and in what capacity have you been volunteering?

Ashra with Callister

I started off on the foster interview team in May 2017 and then, soon after, one of the other foster coordinators on the team left and I took over from her. For a long time I volunteered on both teams and even helped train some new interviewers at the start of COVID. Over time, as I took on more foster homes to manage, I stopped doing interviews and have just been doing the foster coordinator role.

In late 2021, I was asked if I'd be interested in taking over as the team lead for the foster coordinator team. I agreed, though I was a bit apprehensive because I knew what a big responsibility it was. A couple of months into the position now, I can confirm that it’s been a lot of work, but I’m really thankful for the support from my team, the previous team lead and everyone else at VOKRA who has made getting settled in the role a lot easier!

What’s your favourite part of volunteering?

Ashra with Adanac

My favourite part about volunteering is celebrating the breakthrough moments with my fosters. The first time a kitty feels brave enough to meow, the first pets, the first time they jump up on the couch beside the foster or when they’re finally back to good health: those are all big milestones to celebrate! Some of these kitties come to us in pretty rough shape and the fosters work so hard to help them heal, both physically and mentally. I feel a tremendous sense of responsibility to be there for my fosters when they need help and I do everything I can to support them. After all that hard work together, I also love being able to celebrate each adoption with my fosters.

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

My favourite VOKRA kitties are, of course, Callister and Adanac! But aside from them, it's really impossible to pick a favourite among the foster kitties I’ve supported! I started keeping a count a couple of years ago and I’m up to nearly 450 cats! The most rewarding ones will always be the ones who came in sick or terrified and blossomed into happy, healthy cats while in foster care. It's been such a joy to be a part of these kitties' journeys to find their forever homes!

Here’s what foster coordinator Diane Atkinson says about Ashra:

"Ashra has been one of the longer serving foster coordinators, which can be a rewarding yet challenging, and sometimes all consuming, volunteer position and she has shown to be reliable, thorough and knowledgeable!“

And here’s what Karen Duncan, VOKRA co-founder and board member, says about Ashra”

"Ashra’s doing a great job in her new role as foster coordinator team lead. She’s committed to having things run smoothly and is always open to working things out. She’s really organized and is reaching out to fosters to make sure everyone is on the same page. She works well with people and is a good communicator, which is so important in this role".

THANK YOU Ashra for your dedication and all the time you spend making sure our kitties thrive in foster care. We know taking on the role of team lead was a big leap and we couldn’t be more grateful!

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.