Her story

A young 82-year-old who simply refuses to give up.

There are people who are timeless, and our Theda is definitely one of those women the world needs more of — many, many more. I met Theda a few years ago, before the shelter even existed. I reached out to her for help with a cat in very bad shape in Paleokastritsa, and I guess that was fate. Almost everything I have learned, and almost everyone I know in the animal welfare world, is through her.

At the very beginning of Cemetery Cats, Agni Animal Welfare volunteers were the first to step in and help around 30 shabby, sick cats and kittens. Theda was the “boots on the ground” person. Through many years of rescue on the island, helping both dogs and cats, she has single-handedly saved countless animals. She picked up cats in need and drove them to vets. She fed colonies or organised people to feed them. She fostered everyone from the most desperate cases to tiny, still-nursing babies. She found adopters, donated her own money, and joined mass sterilisation projects.

Theda is a young 82-year-old American lady who, luckily for us, moved to live near the shelter in its early days. Ever since, she has been the glue that holds our team together. We are all very different, and we each bring something to this cause. Theda brings invaluable experience, connections, sheer patience and an extraordinary level of dedication — something we appreciate and value immensely.

She is the one who drives cats to the clinic and patiently stays with a terrified baby. She makes sure the food and litter shopping gets done. She keeps the laundry moving and the medications stocked. She keeps our cages and traps organised. And somehow, she still does shelter shifts — cleaning, medicating and, perhaps most importantly, teaching new volunteers. Because Theda doesn’t just rescue animals; she teaches other people how to rescue them too.

Her contribution to Cemetery Cats is impossible to measure. So much of what happens behind the scenes, so many animals who get the help they need, and so much of the knowledge our team has today exists because Theda has spent years showing up, helping, teaching and simply refusing to give up. Thank you, Theda, for being exactly who you are.