Volunteer of the Month - April 2023
This month we are celebrating Therese McKirdy, Trapper.
In this position, Therese works remotely and volunteers at all hours of the day and night, as catching cats is never easy! Driving to all parts of the Lower Mainland, Therese has consistently shown herself to be resilient, patient, and has excellent problem-solving skills that make her such a talent when it comes to trapping!
The act of volunteering is a selfless one, allowing us to gain new skills, new friends and a new perspective. It has been said that volunteering is not for the faint of heart. It requires dedication, reliability, learning and commitment. When you volunteer, you give a part of yourself, your time, your energy and your skills. It can be a one-time event or a lifetime activity.
“Thank goodness for Therese! She is now doing all trapping in the Surrey area, with the team of Erinn and Riley, whom she trained last year. Not only does Therese have great instincts for locating and trapping, but she also is amazing with tiny kittens, tricky/scary moms and people.
Therese also handles situations from people who request help in outer areas as she has great contacts and is able to direct them to help. Our mandate for intake from the outer regions depends on available fosters and includes pregnant or nursing cats, kittens up to 4 or 5 months old, and tiny bottle feeder kittens. She has an enormous number of contacts and is able to triage complex situations and large numbers of cats. She completes all intake procedures including writing up the intake paperwork and entering them in the database. She is able to respond to urgent concerns and bottle feed tiny kittens as well, so they are stable when sent out to foster.
Therese can facilitate direct transfers to fosters or immediate transfers on the same day from Ops. Very few of our pregnant queens or tiny kittens come from Vancouver these days. Kittens that arrive at Ops are kept separate at the front desk to wait for pickup. This is extremely helpful as we want to move pregnant or nursing queens or kittens into foster homes as quickly as possible. Therese is an all-round win for VOKRA. We are so happy to have her on our team!" ~ Karen Duncan, Co-founder of VOKRA.
How did you start volunteering with VOKRA?
I moved back to the Vancouver area in 2019 from an off-the-grid ranch. The city life, although familiar 16 years ago, was an adjustment, especially with no animals following me around! I was eager to once again involve animals in my life.
How long and in what capacity have you been volunteering?
I started volunteering to trap community cats in the fall of 2019, and soon discovered the wonderful cat world of VOKRA . I started volunteering with VOKRA in 2020 , first as a trapper, then quickly progressing into the behavioral team vaccination team and the intake team on the Surrey/White Rock side of the river. As I ended up being the only steady trapper in Surrey in 2021 and 2022, I focused my efforts on pregnant queens and kittens and was able to follow my passion to work with the tiniest and special kittens. I have worked with CH, flat chested, manx syndrome and lots in between and loved every moment. Below is a picture of the corset I made for flat chested kitten.
What is your favourite part of volunteering?
My favorite part of volunteering with VOKRA is being able to be the beginning of our kitten/cat’s journey and seeing them well enough to move on to wonderful fosters and ultimately to forever homes.
Do you have a favourite kitty you have met or a favourite story from your time with VOKRA?
My favorite kittens are so many but some just reach your heart deeper than others...such as it was with my mud puddle baby...she was only 62gms when I found her in a puddle and was such a little fighter...I didn’t think she would make it but she and I made a good team and she survived and went on to thrive with the foster and into her forever home.
Volunteers are an integral part of our organization. Without them, we could not rescue and find loving homes for the more than 1,400 kittens and cats VOKRA takes in each year.