Most people have regular hobbies, like running, reading, creating, or watching documentaries. We each have our ‘thing’ that makes us feel just a bit more like ourselves. But Stacy Mosca of Dyer doesn’t have just any regular hobby. She has a super hobby.
For the past five years, Mosca has been fostering animals, specifically kittens. Through the organization Second Chance 4 Pets, Mosca has cared for dozens of kittens, and also serves as a board member and volunteer for the organization. This is in addition to working full time remotely in IT for ZORCH in Chicago, and being a part-time fitness instructor at Fitness Lab in Crown Point.
Mosca discovered Second Chance 4 Pets three years ago when she was looking for homes for 8-week old kittens. While bottle-feeding the kittens, Mosca realized her passion for nurturing them was a true life calling.
“I’ve always loved working with animals,” Mosca said. “When I was younger, I volunteered for a shelter, but now, fostering through Second Chance 4 Pets, it’s perfect and is the most rewarding experience I know.”
Second Chance 4 Pets Network was founded in 2012 and finds fosters and homes for pets in the area. The network is based in Whiting, but serves animals all across the Northwest Indiana and Illinois. Second Chance 4 Pets is unique in that they do not have a central location, but work one-on-one with volunteers who use their homes as a base for the animals. Once the kittens are 8 weeks old, they are either given to a home or go back to the shelter. This system works well for people like Mosca, who loves to witness the joy on the faces of the families who adopt animals she’s cared for personally.
“My process fostering kittens is very personal,” Mosca said. “I would rather adopt them myself than give them back to the shelter.”
Mosca and her husband invest a lot of their time into the kittens they foster. After a kitten is adopted from Mosca, if something were to prevent the family from being able to take care of their pet, Mosca and her husband will take the kitten back. It’s one of the reasons she does not count herself among the best fosters.
“I am a foster-failure,” Mosca laughed. “There were a few kittens I just couldn’t give up!”
Overall, Mosca has a huge amount of love and respect for the animals she helps foster. This hobby, her passion, has helped her gain a new perspective on life and people, just by working with her kittens.
“There is no single part of fostering that is more important than the other,” Mosca said. “It’s the small things that are the most important and the most rewarding. I get to watch their eyes open for the first time, watch them take a bottle, grow up—it just touches my heart. And it’s an experience that I have not been able to find anywhere else in life.”
For more information on Second Chance 4 Pets Network, visit them at http://www.sc4pets.org/. From the website, you can find more information about becoming a foster parent or even giving an animal a loving home. You can also give them a call at (219)771-6768 or email them at sc4pets@att.net