FOSTER SPOTLIGHT
Passion, Purpose, and a Pile of Kittens: Meet Darcy!
When Darcy first walked through our doors in 2011, she came simply as a volunteer, drawn by a love of animals and a desire to make a difference… and what a difference she has made. In the fifteen years since, her passion and commitment have carried her from volunteer to board member to one of our most dedicated fosters, and today she works alongside our animal care team, still showing up every Saturday with the same heart she started with.
Darcy’s journey with Tails of Hope began with the basics of shelter work; special events, coin drops, yard sales, and days spent helping out in the adoption center. In 2011 she joined the board, and over the eight years that followed she served a term as board president, guiding the organization through years of change without ever losing sight of why she started. “I really care about what the shelter does for the community and the animals,” she says. “You have to, in order to work here.”
Somewhere along the way, fostering became a calling of its own. Darcy has opened her home to more than 100 cats and kittens over the years, along with a handful of dogs, hospice cases, and animals tied up in ongoing court proceedings. One dog, taken in back in February of last year as part of an active court case, is still in her care today. “He has become part of the family,” she says.
Today, Darcy works in animal care, still showing up every Saturday, and still describing herself as a volunteer at heart. “One of these days I’ll be able to retire and become a volunteer once more,” she says. Until then, she brings the same steady dedication to her paid work that she once brought as a volunteer; the kind of full-circle commitment that’s rare to find.
What sets Darcy apart isn’t just her longevity; it’s the joy she still finds in the work after all these years. “My favorite part is that I get to wake up in the morning and care for animals in need,” she says. “It really gets me up in the morning.” She can’t adopt every animal that passes through her care, but fostering lets her help far more than she otherwise could. “They all become a part of my family,” she says. “There is something incredibly heartwarming about a pile of kittens running up to greet you.”
For anyone on the fence about fostering, Darcy has a simple message: go for it. “If you care about animals, you’ll love it,” she says. “It is a small thing to do that makes an incredible difference in the lives of the animals.” After fifteen years and more than a hundred fosters, it’s a message she has earned the right to give — and one she lives out, one animal at a time.
From the Tales of Hope Team
We are so grateful for everything Darcy has given this shelter over the past fifteen years. From special events and coin drops to eight years on our board — including a term as board president — to more than a hundred fostered cats and kittens, her fingerprints are on nearly every part of who we are today.
And she isn’t done. Darcy now works alongside our animal care team, showing up every Saturday, still opening her home to the animals who need her most. This includes hospice cases and court-involved animals that require extraordinary patience and care.
Darcy is proof that showing up, again and again, for fifteen years, changes lives. Thank you, Darcy, for everything.