Foster and Prosper: The Incredible Women Heading the Asheville Humane Society Foster Program
Picture this: You walk into the foster department of Asheville Humane Society (AHS). Immediately, you see a petite woman on the phone with a foster parent, her hands full with a cat crate, blankets, and kitten formula. You look to your left and a vet tech with a head of dark curly hair is wrangling a litter of 3-day old kittens. Then through the door walks a gal decked out in Asheville Humane purple bringing in four crates of animals from the shelter that need to find fosters today. It is a Tuesday and just another day in the lives of these incredible women that run the Foster Program, protecting the most vulnerable animals under the care of AHS.
“Our lifesaving Foster Program is essential to Asheville Humane. Without this program, we would not be able to care for or save as many lives as we do every day,” Chief Operations Officer Lisa Johns shares. Evie Schenkel, Mallory Uzel, and Grace Combs make up the Foster Department that placed 342 animals in need with 171 foster families in the community just in the month of August 2021. They work with local foster homes that open their doors and provide for animals that need extra special care - from tiny kittens and ill or injured animals that need a watchful eye and calm recovery time, to animals that may be struggling mentally in the shelter.
Community pets in need come through the door of the Buncombe County Shelter every day. The shelter (county-owned but operated by AHS) is the only open admissions shelter in the county. This means that no animal is turned away for any reason, and that the trio of heroines in the Foster Department are ready at any moment to provide care and find a temporary home for any animal in need.
Evie hops on the phone with community members that have offered to open their hearts and homes and see what they are willing and able to care for. Mallory checks each animal over and prescribes necessary medication and any other special care they might need. Grace puts together supplies the foster will need, as AHS provides everything with the foster animal. She loads up donated reusable shopping bags with comfy blankets, food, litter, shampoo (kittens and puppies can be quite the messy eaters), needed medication, toys, lovies, and more. These women also train fosters in all care that is required, such as how to feed a week-old kitten or how to give a dog medication. They are available by phone, email, text, and offer regular check-ups to ensure the foster animals they care for are living high-quality lives. Their foster families are never alone, as this team supports them every step of the way.
There are thousands of animals that have come through this foster program, but a special kitten named Soy came in this summer with a serious injury to her front leg. She immediately got the care she needed to make her safe and comfortable along with her front leg bandaged up in neon yellow. She went into foster care with one of their experienced foster moms to ensure that she had someone skilled in wound care. As Soy came in for check-ups, the medical team realized she was not healing properly and they decided to amputate the front leg. She came through with flying colors and does not mind being a tripod kitten one bit. She healed in her foster home and checked in regularly with the Foster Department. This “Happy Tail” ends with Soy getting adopted by her foster family and renaming her Ruby, as they told the staff “she is a precious gem.” AHS lovingly refers to this as “foster failing”, but it is the happiest of endings for animals to find their purr-fect loving forever home.
Stories like these are possible because of the Foster Department and Evie, Mallory, and Grace. They depend on their foster homes to make this program a success. Last year, the AHS foster program made it possible to care for almost 1,400 animals and they are on track to surpass that in 2021.
To learn about becoming a foster parent: https://www.ashevillehumane.org/foster
Written by Laila Johnston, Asheville Humane Society