Interview! Rebecca Jewell, Executive Director of the National Kitten Coalition

"Foster programs are my first love by far."

Rebecca Jewell is the executive director of the National Kitten Coalition. Her family fostered many pregnant cats and litters when she was growing up in Ohio, which inspired in her a love of foster programs. In fact, she built her own foster program from scratch when she first became the volunteer coordinator of a shelter in the DC area 11 years ago—just when she had started to work in the field! After only four years of operation, they had a 97% survival rate for neonatal kittens in the summer of 2010. Since then, Rebecca has been overjoyed to see foster programs become a top priority for shelters. She believes that building strong relationships within your community can make up for a great deal of the lack of monetary resources that so many shelters and rescue programs face, especially since every community has such unique needs. To learn more about the Kitten Coalition, or to download their brand-new Kitten Nursery Manual, please visit kittencoalition.org. You can also follow the happenings at the Coalition at facebook.com/kittencoalition.