February 2020 Volunteer Spotlight: Anne Cady 

Anne joined Animal Friends Alliance in 2016 after moving to Fort Collins from Virginia to be closer to her sister and mother. After watching the web page, tinykittens.com, she knew she wanted to foster. She started out helping with shelter cat care and animal transports, which led to becoming a Foster Intake Assistant. 

Anne is fully dedicated to the Foster Program. She assists with medical exams of cats and kittens going to foster care, which includes recording medical notes and histories, giving vaccinations, and sending reminders for kitties due for exams and treatments. She records all the foster hours for our cat and dog foster care volunteers, and she contacts adopters for post-adoption updates. Her help is invaluable to our foster leadership team, Maria and Jess. Maria says, “Anne makes it possible for us to do our jobs. Without her I don’t know where we would be! She frees up so much of the foster team’s time by taking on logistical things and data entry that would take a full-time staff member’s time. It is literally impossible for us to do our job without her and she is indispensable!” Anne says, 

“I try to make Maria and Jess’s lives easier,” and she does in a significant way! She even helped set up the new foster intake office and donated a vehicle to use for animal transports. 

Out of everything she does, Anne likes the kitty intakes best. She enjoys following the cats’ progress and seeing how they are absorbed into the foster family, especially the excitement that kids experience when they get to name the kittens. Anne explains, “It’s an emotional commitment for the whole family. You really put your heart on the line when you foster.” Anne herself has fostered several hundred cats during her time in rescue, and she currently fosters a mom with 6 kittens that were rescued from a hoarding situation. 

Anne is guardian to 2 cats, Luna Francis and Augusta Marie (Gussie), whom she rescued from the outdoors while living in upstate New York. Luna had her kittens in a wheelbarrow, and Anne started feeding and befriending them, until she was able to bring them inside. The cats quickly decided it was the good life! Anne decided to keep Luna and Gussie (the runt of the litter) and found homes for the other kittens. 

Now retired, Anne spent 34 years as an aerospace engineer. She was the NASA Chief Engineer on the computer used for the Mars Rover! When she isn’t volunteering, she studies genealogy and takes photo inventories of cemeteries (a hobby which started at Arlington National Cemetery). The photos she takes are a comfort to family members who live away and aren’t able to see the grave markers in person. 

Anne, thank you for all you do for the animals, staff, and volunteers of Animal Friends Alliance! You are a hero for us all!