HS senior devoted to fostering and finding new homes for animals

MEET SAMANTHA KEIM…



 

 

FAMILY: Mom Allison, Dad Andrew, Brother Jared, 20

LIVES IN: Voorhees

SYNAGOGUE: Cong. Beth El

CURRENTLY: Senior at Moorestown Friends School

FAVORITE PLACE TO VISIT: South Africa

EXPERIENCE I’D LIKE TO HAVE: To go on March of the Living

While most high school seniors have spent quarantine wrapping up online classes, staying in touch with friends, and preparing for college in the fall, Samantha Keim has also been sleeping in her basement next to a dog named Roy. “He was part of a transport of dogs that came off the beaches in Puerto Rico,” Keim said. “He was starving on the streets. The AWA [Animal Welfare Association] got a private plane and brought 34 dogs here. He was one of them. After a few days of giving him attention and love, he put his feet down on the grass, and wasn’t scared of me. We turned him over quickly and found some adopters for him.”

Roy is just one of dozens of dogs and cats that Keim, 18, has helped find homes for since she volunteered at the Animal Welfare Association for her bat mitzvah project six years ago. Even then, she felt passionate about helping animals in need of adoption. “It was a great feeling to know I was changing the animal’s life,” she said. A science teacher connected Keim to the Burlington County Animal Alliance, which needed assistance for their Saturday adoption events. Keim has gone every Saturday for almost three years and became an active volunteer, helping screen puppies and meeting with adopters. “Seeing the joy in adopters’ faces when they get their puppies,” she said, “I just feel overwhelming gratitude.”

As time went on, Keim began bringing home puppies that couldn’t find an adopter or foster family. “It was an emergency, one-day deal,” she explained. But with the onset of the COVID pandemic, the need for fosters rose dramatically and Keim began fostering for longer periods. Her first fosters were a half-dozen four-week-old boxer mixes for whom Keim cared and found homes. Next came a 10-week-old lab mix named Bandit. Once he was adopted, Keim took in an eight-week-old kitten.

“I don’t think we would have [fostered kittens] if we weren’t in a pandemic,” Keim said, “but I knew we had the time to learn how to take care of them…to do the trainings and watch webinars.” In only two months, Keim has fostered and found adopters for eight dogs and cats.

“She’s amazing with them,” said Keim’s mother, Allison. “With Roy, Sami lived in the basement room with him, slept with him, carried him before he could walk the steps. Within a week, she found the perfect parents for him. I couldn’t believe the difference she made in such a short amount of time.”

Keim’s focus, while the animals are in her care, is to get them healthy, acclimated and socialized before finding them a permanent placement. “Some dogs come in sick. Until they can be fixed and healthy, they need a foster home,” said Keim. “Sometimes you get puppies who are too young or dogs who are pregnant that need a space to have their puppies. They need to feel safe and see what humans are like. To make them more comfortable before getting adopted is really important.” Fostering also prevents the transmission of diseases and makes the adoption process much smoother.

Finding adopters, Keim said, is “all networking, truly.” As she takes animals in, she posts about them on social media. For Roy, Keim held a contest to find him the best name. “It brought attention to him and the whole foster process,” she explained. It was only a matter of time until potential adopters reached out to see if he was available. “It’s about finding the right person,” Keim said. “You only have to find one. If you think that person is the right person, follow your instincts and go with it.”

“Sami has a special knack for helping those who need extra caring,” said Allison. “She was just born with it. You just have to put her in situations where she can utilize that gift, because it really is a gift.” One such situation is at Cong. Beth El’s Project Lev, a Sunday School program for students with special needs, where Keim has volunteered for five years and is now a lead teacher. “My dad’s best friend’s son is in my class, so I’ve been able to have a special relationship with him for five years now,” said Keim. “It’s been really nice to watch him grow. He didn’t recognize me [outside of school] for the first few years, but now when he sees me outside or down the shore, he knows who I am.”

While anticipating her freshman year at American University this fall, where she will study communications and criminal justice, Keim is also gearing up for spring kitten season, when shelters and rescues are often inundated with kittens in need of adoption. She is currently fostering Mike and Ike, a pair of orange tabby kittens who are five weeks old, and encourages others to foster as well. “It’s definitely important to foster when there are a bunch of kittens coming through shelter doors who need bottle feeding. They need nutrients their mama would give them,” Keim said, advising those who find stray kittens not to take them to shelters too quickly. “Sometimes, Mom goes out to scavenge for food and people think the kitten is abandoned,” she said. “When you find little kittens and you think you should take them to the shelter, wait a few hours and watch if Mom comes back. Usually, she will.”

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