If I remember correctly little Basil is a neighbor of ours in San Ramon, right? I'm surprised there aren't any no-kills near you. I don't know of many that aren't no kill other than animal control. I'll see if I can find something.

I volunteered at the SFSPCA for a number of years and found it wonderful. They did a very good job of screening potential forever homes so I always felt good about the animals adopted out. It cured me a bit of wanting to take home every cat I saw! I did work in the outreach program (taking animals to malls etc) so I didn't experience seeing any one animal staying at the shelter a long time or those too sick etc to be adopted so I was spared that heart ache. If there are no no-kills near you, perhaps a taking care of feral cats would be nice. There is Alley Cat Allies that I'm sure could help you.

Claudia