Yuki Kumashiro's first job as team lead for ShelterCare's Housing, Health & Wellness Program was to coordinate a rescue effort to save two tiny kittens. Yuki has been with ShelterCare for more than 20 years, and was promoted to team lead this week.
Just before 4 p.m. on Thursday, May 19, Yuki got a call from Francie, a relief worker at ShelterCare's Homeless Medical Recuperation facility. Francie could hear meowing coming from above one of the units, and she was concerned for the welfare of the cat or cats making the noise. Yuki and teammate Stephanie Kirkland, Housing, Health & Wellness residential specialist, started to brainstorm ideas. Bill King, a ShelterCare community health worker, was also working at Homeless Medical Recuperation and able to lend a hand. The team determined the sound was coming from the attic, so Yuki called the ShelterCare maintenance manager, Mitch McGee.
Mitch sent three members of his team — Richard Frank, Eric West, and Mark Moceikis — to help find the source of the meowing. While the maintenance staff was crawling in the attic space, a ShelterCare client was on the porch outside her unit. Suddenly a tiny, black-and-white kitten jumped through an opening in the ceiling above her, practically landing in her lap.
With one kitten located, the team continued to search. They suspected there may be more than one, but their search last night turned up nothing.
Then, early Friday morning, a ShelterCare client walked in carrying a gray and white kitten. He said he found the kitten, who was wet and shivering, near the bus stop in front of the ShelterCare building. The kitten must have gotten out during the search, and spent the night outside.
The gray-and-white kitten has been adopted by the client who found her. The black-and-white kitten was taken to the 1st Avenue Shelter and will soon be available for adoption.