National Volunteer Week - Thank you Laura Spillane!

Thank you too all of our volunteers! This #NationalVolunteerWeek Toronto Cat Rescue thanks everyone who helps cats in need in the Greater Toronto Area, Kitchener, and Waterloo. Today, we're saying thank you to our volunteer, Laura Spillane.

I live in Somerset in the U.K and when I spent a year in Toronto from July 2017 to July 2018 I can honestly say getting involved as a fosterer for TCR was the best part of my Canadian adventure. I fostered 7 cats, Cliffy, William, Harry, Rolex, Gogo, Jinxie and her surprise baby, Sparrow during my time as a foster mom.

When it was time to say goodbye to Toronto and return home I felt really strongly about remaining involved with this fantastic organisation and I was privileged enough to be given the opportunity to co-ordinate foster homes from the U.K, which I still do and love.

My husband is in the Royal Navy, so he is away a lot and my son has grown up and recently flown the nest, so my 3 cats are my most excellent companions for a lonely old crow such as myself! Tallulah, a tortoiseshell, half Persian with tortitude, but underneath it all she is the most faithful, sometimes almost dog-like cat you could ever wish for. Graham, her son, is a big ginger softie, always up for a snack, a snuggle and a sleep and finally Dennis, a tuxedo, found wandering the streets of Southampton as a kitten and having suffered some awful abuse, he is just starting to act like a real cat, after 4 years of sanctuary with us.

Being a foster coordinator has been (and continues to be) such an interesting learning curve for me. I have e-met some wonderful foster homes and I communicate regularly with other TCR volunteers who have astounding work ethics and knowledge bases, considering most people are volunteers and have full time jobs and families to juggle alongside their voluntary roles, their dedication is commendable.

The only downside of being this side of the Atlantic is that I don’t get to foster any more - I miss the huge reward in seeing a shy cat slowly realise that people are not all bad and that they are the bearer of treats, snuggles and feathery wands and then they can’t get enough of you, which means of course they then get to find their forever home. I fostered 6 cats and I cried 6 times when they left our house with their new family, but the most amazing consolation was knowing how different their life would have been without TCR.