Queen of heart: School of Medicine staffer saves homeless animals
Chris Queen, a research finance manager in the Department of Surgery at the School of Medicine, is a superhero — for cats. Her mission began in 2011 when she rescued a near-starving, homeless mother cat with three tiny kittens living in a bush along a footpath in Milpitas.
After that first experience, Queen was moved to volunteer with the Humane Society of Silicon Valley. Eventually, she founded Purrific Rescue, a small non-profit in San Jose that takes in cats and kittens from local shelters and rescues abandoned and stray cats, relying on a network of dedicated individuals who foster the animals until they can be placed in permanent homes. In 2017, Queen moved to San Diego, where she continues to work for Stanford, manages Purrific remotely, and fosters felines in need for the San Diego Humane Society. Through these heroic – or should we say “purroic” – efforts, she has been personally involved in saving more than a thousand animals.
According to Jamie Silacci, who manages Stanford’s employee volunteer program, Cardinal at Work Cares, helping animals is a popular cause for many Stanford employees.
Queen of heart
“Running Purrific and taking care of fosters basically constitutes a second full-time job, but this is where my heart is,” Queen said. “I love advocating for people to become animal fosters, as truly that is one of the biggest ways to make a lifesaving difference.”
Queen went through the complicated process of establishing Purrific as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in 2017 so that people could be confident the rescue was trustworthy and to make a bigger impact. “Through Purrific, I've stayed active in the San Jose rescue community, pulling at-risk kittens from the San Jose shelter on behalf of Purrific and coordinating spay, neuter, and medical services for pet cat owners who can't afford it,” she explained.
What motivates Queen to dedicate so much time to the welfare of the animals in her care? “I first came to this work during a very dark time in my life. Fostering provided me with a reason for being and gave – and still gives – deep meaning to my life. We often hear fosters say ‘who rescued who,’ and that resonates with me, too,” she added.
You can help, too
Not everyone can dedicate as much time as Queen to volunteering, but there are many small things you can do to make a difference. “With shelters overcrowded and resources very limited around the country, we can't save the animals without foster homes. By temporarily opening your home to foster a pet, you give them a break from the shelter, help preserve limited shelter resources, and create space for other animals in need. You can foster for a few days or a few weeks – it all makes an incredible difference!” she said.
You choose which type of foster assignments to take on based on your interests, experience, and home environment. The shelters and larger rescue organizations provide training and supplies for each type of assignment, which may be a smaller animal such as a guinea pig. If you can’t take any animal into your home, you can volunteer at a shelter, make a donation, or just be an animal advocate she added.
Has Queen’s story inspired you to volunteer? Be sure to explore the Cardinal at Work Cares Volunteer Platform, a tool that makes it easy to find and connect with all kinds of groups that greatly need your help. You can also use the platform to recruit volunteers for organizations you are already engaged with.
