Weekly Reflection #1

One thing that I feel I learned a lot about this first week of my senior project in Kitten Rescue is the operational aspect of Pink Paws For the Cause. Working with my mentor who started the nonprofit focusing on drawing help and attention to feral and abandoned kittens and cats in the Bay Area, I was expecting to be seeing more of the action side than the corporate component based on the fact that the organization is a charity. In just the first week of my project, I am glad I have been tasked with the actual work but also with seeing the perspective of operations and management through my exposure to a balance of both sides of the business. For example, while I have worked with Charlene a bit this week to feed abandoned kittens and cats in Menlo Park and be a transporter for her foster kittens, I have also seen how important her connections are to her business and how she is successful with her rescue program by working with members of local employees of hers in various locations outside of her agency as well as the people she has partnered with who are not part of Pink Paws, but work with them on specific projects. 

One way I have seen the impact of personal and professional relationships on the nonprofit organization has been working with Devi in Fremont, who Charlene met through a project Pink Paws and Devi and her business partner, Lana, collaborated on in the East Bay to manage the growing population of feral cats at an abandoned apartment complex. Devi and Lana are independent rescuers who, because of their work with Charlene, are able to find homes for the kittens and cats they rescue using Charlene’s fosters. Charlene mutually benefits from working with Devi when her work brings her to the East Bay since Pink Paws For the Cause runs out of Los Altos. They are both able to expand their network to various locations in the area, which is an advantage since the Bay Area covers numerous counties, and widen their range of accessibility to rescue cats. I have benefitted from Charlene and Devi’s partnership by being able to work with Devi on slower days for Pink Paws. I have spent a lot of time in Fremont with Devi, taking care of a litter of kittens she was suddenly given, and spending time with her foster kittens to socialize them for adoption. I have also worked with Lana and Charlene together at Pink Paws adoption fair, where Lana’s connection to Charlene resulted in her bringing her own foster cat to promote to the public.  

I’ve enjoyed most of the activities I’ve spent time on this week such as bottle-feeding kittens, feeding abandoned cats, going to an adoption fair, spending time with foster kittens, observing vet techs, and transporting cats and kittens when needed. I’m excited to see what comes next and hopefully learn more about the physical rescue of kittens/cats, and also dive deeper into social media promotion for Pink Paws, since that has been difficult so far. Social media promotion will help me attain my goal of bringing awareness to the community of the pressing issue of the overpopulation of cats and kittens, and I think the adoption fair contributed to this goal as well. I definitely have contributed a lot of time to my goal of maintaining and developing the health of kittens by taking care of sick kittens and feeding them, and observing their recovery, as well as feeding the local abandoned cats. I’m currently working on devoting more of my time to creating a healthy, happy, and secure home for the kittens, but haven’t had as much time to work on that goal as I anticipated since I’m not directly fostering myself, but I’ve had a few experiences so far this week in contributing to adapting fostered kittens in Fremont and Campbell to assist in the ways I am able to without living there myself. I’m excited for the week to come to continue learning about kitten rescue and developing the skills to help my community do so as well.