Sheltering Sasha

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The building has no plumbing--a defect too costly to remedy at the moment--so Foster and her eight volunteer helpers ferry water jugs and cat dishes back and forth to their homes, taking special care to disinfect them. Foster rents the house at a reduced rate to a vet technician who helps her with basic medical care.

Foster handles feeding and medication and other chores mornings before work and some evenings and weekends. The volunteers cover shifts she can't and fill in when she is out of town.

A photo is taken of each arriving cat, framed, and hung on one of the walls, next to its predecessors. Rainbow stickers identify those who have died. They are buried in the "Rainbow Bridge Cemetery" in back of the sanctuary, each receiving a unique wind chime that hangs on a sheltering tree.

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