A kitten named Stephen King, his black fur with white markings resembling a tuxedo, reaches out to nuzzle his foster mom during a recent checkup at DuPage County Animal Services in Wheaton.

The cat feels safe with Agnieszka Bazan-Guzman — she goes by “Aga” — a volunteer with Animal Services and its recently expanded and refurbished shelter along Manchester Road.

Minutes later, in the room that houses the cats, a mature feline named Candy brushes Aga’s legs, like cats do, looking to be petted. Several people are present, but Candy approaches Aga first.

Aga obviously is a cat whisperer.

“They’re just so loving, they just want your attention,” she said. “I wish everybody could come and adopt them.”

Bazan-Guzman goes above and beyond to aid that process.

Since February, when she found a litter of four kittens in a parking lot where she works, the Elmhurst resident has fostered 17 cats, including Stephen King and five other kittens still too young for adoption. The others have been adopted, including two that Aga convinced co-workers to take home.

Finding “someone to be thankful for” is not hard; they live among us in plain sight. Yet, out of roughly 300 people who volunteer for DuPage County Animal Services, shelter administrator Laura Flamion chose Bazan-Guzman.

Why?

“She’s a powerhouse,” said Flamion, who first became aware of Bazan-Guzman when she volunteered at an animal adoption event in September 2024.

Bazan-Guzman, who was 17 years old when she came to Chicago from Bilgoraj, Poland, in 1995, started volunteering more seriously with DuPage County Animal Services in January. She’s there two or three Saturday mornings a month, more if she covers another volunteer’s shift.

Attracted by an online notice seeking volunteers to clean the shelter’s adoption room, Bazan-Guzman does that, feeds the animals and interacts with them.

She also attends adoption and vaccination events, and works with the shelter’s philanthropic partner, DuPage Animal Friends, on its annual fundraising gala and as administrator of its “Giving Tuesday” webpage.

“Anything I can do, I do,” Bazan-Guzman said.

She stood out to Flamion from the start. She could have pawned off those found kittens, but didn’t.

“Most people just bring us animals and leave, and say, ‘OK, not my problem.’ But Aga said, ‘I’m not going to do that, I’m going to be a part of the solution as well.’ And she just keeps multiplying her efforts,” Flamion said.

“She is the full package. However she can help, she is always offering.”

Help is needed.

The cat population is booming. Whether due to warmer weather contributing to more outdoor litters or financial hardship leaving people less able to care for their cats or afford neutering or spaying, the shelter’s cat population has been “off the charts all year long,” Flamion said.

DuPage County Animal Services accepts all domestic species. It has cats, dogs, guinea pigs, rabbits, and birds. Of the 265 animals under its care during a recent visit, Flamion said 212 were cats.

People who provide foster care are “lifesavers,” Flamion said.

“We just know that when animals are in foster homes, they stay healthier, they’re happier and better socialized,” she said. “And if all those cats were to come back from foster at once, we would be in a world of hurt because we wouldn’t have enough cage space.”

A mother of three — two at home and 22-year-old Alexandra studying to be a veterinarian — Bazan-Guzman credits the support of her husband, Francisco, to enable her time at the shelter on top of her 40-hour work week.

She’s got nothing against dogs. She grew up with dogs and cats as a girl in Poland. But Bazan-Guzman is a cat person. Snuggled in her lap, caramel-colored Candy confirms it.

As relaxed as Candy is with her, Bazan-Guzman is with the cats.

“It’s just this internal peace that it gives me. I just love them,” she said.

“I love what I’m doing,” Bazan-Guzman added. “For me, volunteering is like a healing process. So not only — which is most important — I help those animals in the shelter, I help myself.

“Shelter is like my therapy, for my mind, for my soul. I don’t need a therapist. I come here, and all those cats are my therapy.”

https://www.dailyherald.com/20251126/lifestyle/someone-to-be-thankful-for-all-star-volunteer-is-not-your-typical-cat-lady/