Volunteer Profiles
We created this page to put a face to our volunteers, foster homes, and board members. We're growing and will be adding new profiles as we go...
Louisa Alexander
Director
Louisa stumbled into animal rescue when Ricardo the cat showed up on her apartment stoop in the spring of 2004. Ricardo inadvertently "introduced" Louisa to Lori Horwedel (City Kitties Co-Director), who was working at the vet that day. She never was able to adopt out Ricardo, who makes a handsome couch ornament. But she and Lori banded together to create City Kitties soon after. Since then, they've fostered dozens of cats in their West Philly home and have watched City Kitties grow from a two-person operation to a neighborhood organization. They share their home with two goofy pit bulls, a small herd of cats, and an assortment of fish. Louisa is a social worker in the HIV/AIDS field. In her spare time she enjoys trying her hand at web design and playing with her planted aquariums.
Megan Andeer
Board Member
Megan graduated from the University of Pennsylvania's School of Veterinary Medicine in 2001. She began working at veterinary hospitals at the age of eleven. She continued on as a Veterinary Assistant at a feline hospital all through high school and while at college at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. She was the President of the feline club at Penn and in her senior year she received the Feline Medicine and Surgery Prize from the American Association of Feline Practitioners and the Student Government Award for Patient Care. Graduating in the top of her class, Megan interned at VCA South Shore Animal Hospital in Weymouth, Massachusetts and went on to work at the Cat Doctor in the Art Museum area. Megan lives in South Philly with her husband Jerry and their cats Oscar, Frank, Hank, Gala, Chloe, and Seth.
Sarah Coburn
Foster Home
Profile coming soon!
Kelsey Dashiell
Foster Home
Profile coming soon!
Stephanie Elsky & Ari Fried
Foster Home
Profile coming soon!
Alex Fleck
President
Alex started rescuing cats on her own, but soon realized that there's strength and sanity in numbers. "City Kitties was exactly the sort of organization I was looking for: full of local, idealistic, caring people who wanted to do their part to help local cats in trouble." Since joining the organization, Alex has fostered a diverse group of cats, including Pia, Elise, Hannah, Clarence, Trevor, and Caverly. She rescued James, Roswell, Gladys, Corduroy, and Rosemary and her babies, who eventually went on to their forever homes. She also adopted two of her cats through City Kitties: Ivan and Zoe now show other foster cats the ropes and share the house with BrAvery, Lucy, and Mabel the dog. When Alex is not taking care of the herd of kitties, she spends time with her horse and chickens. Sometimes she even does a little work. She recently completed her PhD and now teaches at a local community college.
Angie Fick
Foster Home
Angie is a graphic designer who often thought about fostering kitties, but other things always came up. When Courtney (foster home emeritus) moved into Angie's apartment last year, the pair discovered they both wanted to foster, and so it began! Angie always had cats in the house where she grew up so she loves having them in her home again. "All animals deserve a chance at a happy life, so matching adopters to a kitty and seeing them go to a safe and loving home is so rewarding," she says, adding, "I just have to be sure the feline-to-human ratio in the apartment doesn't get too out of control (it's so hard to say no!)" Courtney has sinced moved across the country so Angie's roommates now assist with spoiling and loving the kitties. So far, Angie has fostered Dinky and Houdini, Nelson the three-legged wonder cat, Axel, Fred and Daphne, Maude, Tastykake, Frankie, and Squints.
Michelle Gaskill
Adoption Coordinator & Foster Home
Michelle got her start as a kitty foster mom while living in NJ and volunteering at a local animal shelter walking dogs. Someone showed her a beautiful pregnant orange tabby and said she needed a clean, germ-free place to have her babies. Six healthy orange kittens later, she was hooked. That was several years ago, and Michelle has rarely been without a foster cat since. Right now she is living in the University City section of Philly with her three very patient and indulgent boys - two kitties (Gandalf and Neelix) and a human. Michelle works as a research coordinator for the UPenn Ophthalmology department. She spends her spare time reading, watching (and naming her cats after) cheezy sci-fi, playing online RPGs, and perfecting her mad karaoke skillz.
Eli Green
Foster Home
Eli's lifelong love affair with felines began with the first word - cat. As a young child Eli realized that cats are often much nicer than people and pursued their friendship at every chance. After years of begging, Eli was given "Squirty" an adorable gray striped cat who quickly became Eli's very first BFF. As soon as Eli started paying rent, cats got the word and started showing up at the door. Eli has never been known to say "no" to an animal in need, and frequently carries cat food for just such an occasion! Eli also does some random stuff on the side like getting a doctorate in human sexuality education, running a non-profit organization (AGREAA.org), teaching empathy and respect to a wide range of audiences, and even occasionally doing some work to pay the bills. Eli is incredibly grateful to City Kitties for their endless dedication to making the world a better place for kitties and is very proud support their efforts by being a CK foster home.
Jordan Gummel & Sharon Sabatini
Jordan and Sharon met a few years ago while living in neighboring apartments in West Philly. The two founding members of City Kitties (Louisa and Lori) also lived in the same apartment complex at the time. When Sharon was in between "permanent" living quarters, Lou and Lori took her in (their first human "foster") to share a room with Sharon's first foster kitty, Butter. Jordan and Sharon fell in love not only with each other but with fostering and spent the first few smitten months of their relationship caring for and cuddling with Butter. Sharon, Jordan and their two canine companions, Cricket and Leroy, have loved sharing their home with various foster kitties over the past couple of years. When not scooping litter or separating "the zoo" at meal time, Sharon makes her living as one of the friendly faces at the front desk of The Cat Doctor. And Jordan, a graphic designer, enjoys cuddling with her current feline foster, spoiling Cricket and Leroy with extra treats, and expanding their wardrobe.
Lori Horwedel
Director
Lori Horwedel is a veterinary hospital administrator with more than ten years of experience in the veterinary medicine field. She met City Kitties Co-Director Louisa Alexander in 2004, and soon after they found themselves on their first cat rescue adventure. The first call to action came from Kyle Cassidy's house, where there was a kitten in distress. Maurice (pictured) had a horrible eye infection and would have lost his eyes without veterinary intervention. Lori scooped him up and took him to work with her the very next day. Maurice found a new home, and Lori and Louisa found a new calling. In her spare time, Lori enjoys photography, reading, and walks with Keely the pit bull.
Sandra & Josef Kaplan
Foster Home
Josef and Sandra met in high school, and started dating at 16. They got married almost 11 years later before moving to Philadelphia from Australia so Josef could work at PENN as a Research Scientist. Sandra is also working for PENN as a Research Nurse at HUP. They chose to leave their cat and dog in the care of their parents to avoid torturing them with 30 hours of flying followed by months of quarantine. After 2 years, and a stint of fostering a cat for 2 weeks for a friend until a permanent home could be found, they realised just how much they missed the company of furry friends. After searching for local rescue groups, they found City Kitties asking for foster homes, and passed inspection! Since then they have been blessed with the company of Josie (now Bree), Sophie, Mr Magoo (more fitting than the original title of Sir Galahad), Moo Moo (Morgan), Crumpet, and now Wendy. Each kitty has displayed their own special quirks and personalities so they will always be remembered fondly.
Nikki Karam & Jesse Long
Foster Home
Jesse and Nikki are life-long cat ladies who love getting to meet and foster many wonderful kitties. They moved to Philly from New York with their two "forever" cats, Diego and Pie, in 2006 and plan to stick around for a long time. Jesse works as a paralegal at Community Legal Services, and Nikki is a library assistant at Drexel's Hagerty Library. When they're not playing with or talking about cats, they enjoy cooking, reading, crossword puzzles, and talking about politics.
Wendy Metzgar
Foster Home
Wendy found her "forever" kitties, Roosevelt and Ellie, through City Kitties last year, and was hooked on the awesome mission of this organization and the dedicated people who run and support it. Roosevelt and Ellie were skittish at first but now Ellie is a cuddler and Roosevelt isn't as ornery all the time! After working at nonprofit membership associations for the past 13 years, Wendy became a full-time grad school student in the Organizational Dynamics program at Penn this summer, which means she has a lot of time to spend with all of her kitties, foster and forever. She thinks they love having their human around! Wendy lives in Rittenhouse Square on Chestnut Street, and the kitties favorite activity is human-watching out the front windows, as well as chasing each other throughout the apartment at full speed! (Thank goodness there are no tenants downstairs!)
Laura Onderko
Foster Home
Profile coming soon!
Andrea Reich
Foster Home
Andrea is a first time Foster Kitty Mama to Oolie and Gray. After living with her roommate's cats for 2 years (who have since moved away) she realized 4-legged critters were a must-have for her apartment, and opted to foster 2 little ladies. Andrea works as a medical assistant in a dermatology office and is currently applying to Physician Assistant graduate programs. When she isn't cuddling with the girls, she spends her time studying Biochemistry, reading celebrity blogs and watching House.
Melissa Scheiner
Foster Home
Melissa is a first time foster mom, and is absolutely thrilled to have Ellie in her home. She keeps herself busy as a full time law student, and also working for PhillyCarShare. Ellie and Melissa enjoy watching her neighbors outside the front bay window, hiding in boxes, and overcoming silly black cat superstitions.
Daniel Stein
Board Member
Danny has been working exclusively in the animal care field for the past 6 years. He attended UMASS Amherst and studied Pre-Veterinary medicine. He's worked as a veterinary technician in a variety of clinical settings including: non-profit humane society hospital, a board certified internal medicine practice and a private clinic focusing on exotics. He has devoted an immense amount of time to studying the topics of canine behavior and has worked extensively with hard-to-handle dogs in a shelter environment. Currently, Danny is a staff writer for the Web site www.dogguide.net and a Pet Care Specialist for PhilaPets. Danny has a crew of pets including Lucian (a Dogue De Bordeaux) and Reef (an American Pit Bull Terrier). In his "spare" time, Danny breeds and shows fancy rats: www.tekkarats.com.
Haley Schwartz
Foster Home
Haley recently joined the foster cat community, and loves it. She is currently running afterschool programming for teens in West Philadelphia. When not at work, Haley enjoys taking photographs, reading, and watching TV with a very affectionate Rosemary.
Are you interested in becoming a foster home for City Kitties? Click here to apply!