Oregon Cat Sanctuary Volunteers Find Healing Through Service

Elizabeth Lindemann walks through rooms filled with cats that nobody else wanted, filling water bowls and checking litter boxes, and she's never felt more needed.

For two years, Lindemann has volunteered at the Cat Alliance Team Sanctuary in Sherwood, Oregon, where 140 cats with special needs have found their forever home. Some were born with physical differences like Hobbit, who has no eyelids. Others have behavioral issues that made them unadoptable.

Reatha Larson manages the sanctuary and knows every cat by name and story. "Most of them are unadoptable. That's what we were built for because most rescues take in the adoptable ones," she explains.

Running a facility this size takes serious work. Each of the sanctuary's rooms houses 15 to 25 cats, including one dedicated to feral cats who will never leave.

That's where volunteers like Lindemann become essential. She helps with feeding, watering, and cleaning, describing herself as "another set of eyes for the kitties."

But Lindemann has discovered something unexpected through her service. "For me personally, it has helped me be calm and has helped me with a sense of accomplishment and build a community," she says.

Sunny's Take

Lindemann's experience reflects what researchers have long known about volunteer work. The Mayo Clinic reports that giving time to others reduces stress and increases feel-good hormones in the brain while providing a stronger sense of purpose.

For Lindemann, those benefits arrived at exactly the right moment. "I think sometimes for an older person, for whatever their background, their mental health can go like this," she says, waving her hands up and down.

The stability of showing up for the cats gave her something to anchor to. "Volunteering helps my mental health in a way that there is stability, there's a connection outside of myself," Lindemann shares.

At the sanctuary, it's nearly impossible to tell who's helping whom. The volunteers care for cats that other shelters couldn't take. The cats give the volunteers purpose and calm. Everyone wins.

"Volunteering reinforces that I'm needed here and I'm contributing to the world," Lindemann says.

Larson welcomes more volunteers and says families with children make wonderful helpers at the sanctuary, creating opportunities for connection across generations.