Kathy Norris

"When I was four years old, I'd find little kittens, tame them and bring them to the house," says Kathy Norris, recently named president of the Stray Cat Alliance, a local non-profit that helps low-income cat caregivers with spay/neuter costs, medical care, and cat food. "We'd have to find someone to adopt them." Norris lives on the same property, west of Fern Ridge Lake, where she grew up. She and her partner of 30 years, Les Davis, operate the Christmas tree farm started by her father. They spend one month each year, Thanksgiving until Christmas, selling trees from a lot in the Bay Area, then 11 months replanting, fertilizing, and pruning trees on the farm. "Les and I do it all," says Norris. "I go up and down the ladder all summer long." A life-long rescuer of uncared-for animals, Norris currently has 11 house cats, including Tillie, who appears in the photo, three dogs, and two 20-plus-year-old horses. She also feeds many feral cats. "The SCA does not operate a shelter," she says. "We focus on spay and neuter. The big thing now is TNR: trap, neuter, and release. We work with people who try to manage colonies." Phone SCA at 541-607-4219 or send donations to SCA, PO Box 26043, Eugene OR 97402.