As TKR’s chief administrator for the last 10 years, Linda Hmelo handles TKR’s foster parent communications, grantwriting, record-keeping and managing supplies. But she started with TKR in 2002 as a spur-of-the-moment foster.
Linda’s first experience as a kitten foster came when she was a child. A stray pregnant mom cat showed up at her family’s doorstep, had 6 kittens, nursed them for 6 weeks, then took off without the kittens.
Many years and many cats of her own later Linda met that force of nature, Toni.
“In 2002 I was not working for a spell, so I decided to volunteer at SFACC as a cat volunteer,” recalls Linda. “This was before TKR even had a formal foster program. I met Toni and then one fateful day Toni handed me a tiny black 3 month old kitten, Cosmo, who needed a little socialization. And so it began. A few years after that I took a longer work break and started fostering bottle feeders.”
Once Linda went back to work she started helping TKR with the administrative work that keeps TKR purring along. “But as soon as I retire,” she says, “I will start fostering again. I love it.”
Linda just adopted an 11-month-old TKR alum, Slade (new name Dickens). Presently she shares her home with an 11-year-old cat, Pippin, also a TKR alum.
“TKR is a good match for me,” say Linda. “I get to help kittens and senior cats, and work with so many caring and fun people while I do it.”
