Feline Rescue, which has been providing shelter and adoption placement for domestic cats since 1997, is where sophomore Rowan Moore is currently volunteering. Situated near SPA, Feline Rescue is located at the intersection of Fairview Avenue and University Avenue in St. Paul. The organization relies on volunteers to operate the Adoption Center, care for Foster Program cats, and educate the community, among other skill-based roles at the shelter.
Moore first learned about the shelter when his family got a cat from there. “[It was] five years ago, I believe, and I really liked the place then; it was very comforting.”
Once Moore got the cat, they realized that they wanted to spend more time around the animals. However, his family already had two pets by that point and wasn’t interested in getting any more. In order to continue to spend more time with cats, Moore decided he wanted to continue being around the animals and the best place to do that was the shelter.
That wasn’t the only reason Moore was drawn to Feline Rescue, though. “It’s on the way to the place where fencing is in the winter,” said Moore. Seeing the shelter every time they drove to fencing practice cemented the idea of volunteering at the shelter in his head. “I kept thinking about it: ‘oh, I’d love to volunteer there.’”
At Feline Rescue, volunteers fill a variety of positions. From vet aide to adoption specialist, cat transport driver to social media manager, the shelter is almost entirely volunteer-run. Moore is more of a general shelter caretaker, playing with and cleaning up after cats.
Moore has been volunteering since mid-September. “So I think in the summer I asked my mom if she could sign us up to like this orientation you need to go through to volunteer there,” they said. Moore spends his time volunteering on the weekends. “I have a shift once a week on Sunday morning.”
Despite volunteer hours no longer being a requirement for completing sophomore year, Moore still encourages students to spend time helping their community if possible. “It’ll definitely give you teachings…it teaches things like life lessons or skills. And it’s a great opportunity to, like, meet people and just do something that you wouldn’t normally do. If you could find the time, I definitely recommend that even for just a few weeks because aside from being fun, I guess, it’s educational.”

Moore has learned quite a few things from the experience, too. “It’s like learning rules and procedures and then adapting and kind of like making it your own. I guess [it’s] also like improvisation. Like if a cat gets out, what do you do with that? Any number of things happen and you learn how to, how to adapt to that.”
That’s not where the learning ends, though. To Moore, they’re just at the beginning of their volunteering experience, and there are any number of positions at the shelter that they could explore in the future. “There’s also more stuff that you can learn like…I could become an adoption specialist and learn how to socialize with people. As a med caregiver, you can learn how to care for cats or how to administer medication.”
Moore’s passion for caring for cats and helping their local community has encouraged him to get out in the world and learn new skills while spending time doing something they love. From here on out, Moore’s volunteering possibilities are endless.