On any given day, the ASPCA Adoption Center and the ASPCA Animal Hospital are home to hundreds of animals. Caring for so many dogs and cats takes a lot of work, and none of it would be possible without our incredible, dedicated staff of volunteers. In honor of National Volunteer Week, we want to recognize one of those volunteers, Adoption Counselor Stephen Q., by sharing the story of “his best adoption ever.” Here’s what Stephen had to say:

On what started as a typical day volunteering as an ASPCA Adoption Counselor, I met a couple who came in looking to adopt a pair of adult cats. Delighted, I took them through the shelter showing them each of several bonded adult pairs, and while they enjoyed meeting each pair, none were quite right. As luck would have it, I must have saved the best for last. I said to them, “Well, we have one more bonded pair I can show you, please come with me.”

As I opened the kennel door to show them this beautiful pair of cats, I explained that both were completely blind.

The couple started petting these two loving and affectionate cats (one with non-seeing eyes, the other without eyes at all) while I started talking to them about my own experience with my blind-from-birth cat, Jenny. I talked about how perfectly Jenny gets around, how she opened my heart to a new type of human-cat experience, that no challenge is insurmountable and that perfection comes in many forms. After 20 minutes of petting, listening and asking questions, the couple turned to me with moist eyes and said, “We’ll take them.”

It was my best adoption ever, and all the credit goes to a couple with an open heart—and to my little blind cat with the biggest heart ever, also rescued by the ASPCA.

Thank you to Stephen, and to all of our volunteers, for your hard work, dedication, and inspiring stories!