Kimberly Schimitt

5 Questions to get to know Kimberly!

Have you ever met anyone famous?

Yes, actor Ethan Hawke about 35 years ago. At the time I worked for Sears and part of my job as a contractor was asking people to fill our credit card applications. The applicant would get a free gift, like a small stuffed animal or items that would be from Oriental Trading Company. Each Sunday I would take a rolling cart from the store storage room that held everything and I would wheel it out to the Galleria Mall general area. There was this one week where they wanted me to go the Newburgh Mall. A couple young men came and filled out the applications and one of them asked what to put for income as he gets paid per job. I said write down an average of what you get, he wrote something like $300k. This made me think, “Who is this guy?” I asked him if he was an actor, he said, “Yes, I was in the movie “Dead Poets Society” with Robin Williams made in 1989″ and if I didn’t believe him, there was a bookstore behind us and he could get something to prove it. He is better known for being in “Reality Bites,” “White Fang” and “Training Day” and many other movies.

What are you passionate about?

Cats and cat rescue. I’m a partner in a cat rescue group, Lost Paws, Inc. and volunteer for another, StrayHELP for stray and feral community cat (cats living on your property or any business property).

StrayHELP has kitties in the adoption center at the Poughkeepsie PetSmart. I volunteer there Thursday nights to clean the kennels, feed and play with the cats and let people into the adoption center to play with them. For people that put in an adoption application, I am one of the volunteers that does a home visit to ensure that the people, house and other pets are a great fit for the cat. We do TNR/P, which is trap/neuter (or spay)/return (to trapped location) or if friendly, Placement (adoptions), cat and kitten fostering, and Humane Education programs. We are able to improve the lives of both cats and people in the Dutchess County area of the Hudson Valley, New York.

Locally, I am a cat colony caretaker/manager for 9 cats. A colony of cats is a group of feral or free-roaming cats that share a territory. This territory is usually focused on a source of food and water. We set up shelters and feeding stations. If you are feeding a group or colony of cats then you are considered the colony manager. Despite the “stand-offish” nature of many feral cats, once food, water and/or shelter has been provided for the colony, they will begin to depend on you for long-term care. Colonies that are cared for can thrive for many years and the responsibility should not be taken lightly. I feed them every single day even in very bad weather.

I help with fostering semi-friendly and friendly cats that need help transitioning from living outside until they can go into our adoption program. I started fostering December 10th a four-month kitten. However, I recently, mid-February, became a foster failure. Which is keeping the cat for as your own instead of adopting out. Her name is Lovey and she is now 8 months old and the joy of my heart. I also have a 13 year-old kitty named Honey-Girl.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?

Bungee Jump. It was at Action Park, but still to jump off a small platform 60 feet high is crazy…and a lot of fun. I’ve always wanted to jump out of a plane but I’m not sure I’m that courageous to do it. I also almost got arrested for feeding a colony of cats on Federal property, Castle Point V.A. Hospital. The Federal security guards took me and my rescue partner Natalie to security, ran our names in their systems, took our photographs, fingerprinted us and gave us a very stern warning not to come back without express written permission. However, they were also compassionate and they gave us a contact person to get permission to continue our rescue work. Eventually we got ‘clearance’ to care for the cats and even got our own security badges. So now my rescue partner, Natalie and I joke that we cannot commit any serious crimes as we are in CODIS and other ID databases.

If you could visit anywhere in the world you’ve never been, where would you go?

Russia. I love the Russian Culture and language. I’ve had cats named Zara and Misha (nickname for Michael). Some places I would like to see are St. Petersburg Castle, Siberia, Moscow (especially the Kremlin and Hermitage Museum), places relating to the last Tzar and his family, the Romanoff’s like Yekaterinburg (the place where they were killed), travel on the Trans-Siberian Railway which runs from Moscow to Vladivostok and Lake Baikal, the deepest and oldest lake on Earth.

Where’s your favorite place in the world?

Adirondack Mountains, more specifically Indian Lake. Growing up, my family vacationed there for several weeks in the summer for about 8 years. From our first time there, we met a local family whose husband was the Postmaster of a tiny (about 20′ x 25′) Post Office and the Indian Lake Dam Keeper. Our families became fast and lifelong friends.

Besides renting a cabin several weeks each summer, we would go up about every few months throughout the year and stay with them. As a Dam Keeper, the town provided his family with a home at the end of Dam Road, a dirt road, which is about 10 miles deep into the mountain from the main road. Literally. Thousands of acres of wilderness and wild animals surrounding you. We even got snowed in where we couldn’t leave to come home for several days.

They had a very small farm with goats, a couple of horses, chickens and an attack rooster, Reggie. Whenever we were driving up their long driveway we would have to search for Reggie. He would hear the car and be on the warpath running towards us, screaming, ready to attack with his long spurs and beak. Also, they didn’t buy milk at the store, they got their milk from the goats and sometimes I would help milk them. Goat milk is delicious. I loved jumping off of the dam into the Lake.

They have a son my brother, Derek’s age and if we didn’t see the boys for a while, it would be, “Oh no, I hope they are not searching for a Moose or a bear.”