KITTEN WISHES COME TRUE FOR COMPASS FAMILIES

Compass teams up with San Francisco SPCA to help Compass families adopt kittens.

The Covid-19 pandemic has been an extremely stressful time for everyone. Many Compass families who have worked hard to reach housing stability, and were succeeding, were suddenly faced with loss of income and childcare when the shelter-in-place order began.

Three Compass families all had kittens on their holiday wish lists. They all shared similar stories of children stepping up during the pandemic to help their families by taking on more responsibilities. So Compass teamed up with San Francisco SPCA to make their kitten wishes come true.

One Family shared their story…

Roselyn is 14 years old and has two younger siblings. Her family have been clients at Compass Family Services for two years. Last March her parents lost their jobs at the start of shelter-in-place and the family faced serious financial challenges, including a growing back-rent debt. They were able to get back to work in July, but that meant Roselyn needed to take on the big job of taking care of her siblings while her parents were working.

Roselyn was balancing her online schoolwork, housework, and making sure her siblings were fed and keeping up with their online education. She told us that she began to feel isolated and lonely. Roselyn missed going to school with her friends very much.

As the holidays were approaching, her Compass case manager helped them fill out their Adopt-a-Family wish list and Roselyn asked for a kitten. Her parents approved and wanted very much to make their daughter’s wish come true.

Compass reached out to San Francisco SPCA about Roselyn’s wish, along with the two additional families who wished for kittens. And despite a very high demand for pet adoptions this fall, they were all matched with loveable kittens just in time for the holidays.

All three families are reporting that their new family members are doing well and have been joyful additions to their families. The 2020 Compass Adopt-a-Family project matched 546 families with donors in our community who fulfilled their wish lists for the holidays.

We’d like to thank these families for sharing their stories and photos with us.

And we’d like to give San Francisco SPCA a special Thank You for helping us make the holidays especially bright for these children and their families.