Cindy Wright is one of the powerhouses behind the scenes at AARF.
As a 100% volunteer run animal rescue, AARF literally wouldn’t exist without our volunteers. We’re shining a light on what it takes to make a volunteer rescue work by spotlighting the people who make AARF happen!
In 2010, less than a year into volunteering at Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter (BARCS), Cindy Wright walked by their vet office and spotted a striped cat covered with white goop, angry open wounds and crunchy, mostly missing, ears. Her three kittens crowded around her, mewing away. She asked the vet what happened. “She got set on fire by kids.” Cindy knew it that moment, if the cat survived, she would adopt her. The BARCS vet (now AARF partner mobile vet Dr. Sherry Seibel) took the cat home for almost two months of critical care, and when she healed to the point that Cindy could take care of her, Cindy took Mittens home. A few years later, when AARF was born, Mittens became an honorary board member and spokescat – and Cindy joined the board, of course.
Over the course of the past 16 years, Cindy estimates she’s fostered 100-150 cats and kittens – though she claims she doesn’t have “high numbers” because she primarily takes abuse cases and rarely takes kittens. But we know what Cindy is too humble to admit: there are countless cats alive today who wouldn’t be with us if it weren’t for her steadfast commitment to their care.
Cindy credits her late mother with her passion for caring for neglected animals. As a solo rescuer in Florida, Cindy’s mother would find homes for kitties that were neglected or needed rehoming – some of whom, naturally, never left their home. Cindy would tag along on these rescue adventures, and when she started her career in TV news, she found herself gravitating toward investigative stories exposing animal cruelty and abuse cases. On her rare day off, she would take her cat, Nightmare, to visit to visit folks at a nursing home through the Pets on Wheels program in Baltimore City.
It was in retirement from the hustle and bustle of TV news that she discovered the joys of volunteering in animal rescue. At the beginning, she did every available volunteer job available at BARCS, including including matching adopters with the best kitties for them (something she still does at AARF today). It was there that she met Arika Pevenstein, one of AARF’s founders, and the rest, as they say, is history.
As in actually historical! In 2011, Mittens was named ASPCA Cat of the Year. Mittens, in her pink crate and accompanied by Cindy, flew to New York for her appearance on the Today Show with Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee and was then honored by hundreds of folks at the Pierre Hotel. Dr. Sherry Seibel joined them and Caroline Griffin, then Baltimore’s chairperson of the Anti-Animal Abuse Commission, received the ASPCA’s Presidential Award.
Mittens (2010-2023) leaves behind a legacy of care for abused, neglected and abandoned animals – the core of AARF’s mission.
Upon their return to Baltimore, Mittens and Cindy started their work in humane education. Mittens made appearances for BARCS, helped sexually abused girls in Pennsylvania and joined Project Mickey where she went into city schools and helped at-risk children and autistic children and did countless other visits with other organizations. Cindy and Mittens spent over a decade together until Mittens passed peacefully in the arms of her family on September 17, 2023. She leaves behind a legacy that will continue to inspire people of all ages to choose empathy and kindness for other living beings, to be brave in the face of adversity, and to fight for neglected and abused animals and human children.
Mittens was Cindy’s inspiration to dedicate over a decade and a half (and counting) to helping cats who have been abused in Baltimore. Due to her expertise and passion, BARCS will often contact Cindy directly, before sending out a rescue plea, when an abuse case comes in. Her work is often sensitive, confidential and involves legal cases so she, and AARF, can’t speak or post about it – and given the severity of their needs, her fosters often spend an extended period of time in Cindy’s care before they are ready for their AARFily Ever Afters.
Thank you, Cindy, for always being there for the cats who need it most and showing them what human love really is!