As I lay here with my oldest feline, Bobcat, I am contemplating which cat’s story at SAW should be used for Giving Tuesday. While petting his frail old man body and listening to him purr, I tell Bob how fortunate he is to be in a loving home with a family of his own and not in a shelter, no matter how nice it may be.
That moment is when I decided not to use any particular cat’s backstory and chose instead, to share some pictures, memories and general information with you.
What an absolute whirlwind the past 2 years have been for us.
Starting with:
*ringworm kitties in the fall of 2019, forcing us to close for months
*covid making sure to keep us closed even longer
*trying to raise large funds for a new shelter when gathering people for a fundraiser was not even allowed anywhere
*breaking ground on the new building
*watching the new shelter go up day after day
*surviving the inevitable delay after delay
*happily sharing our new building with so many of you at our open houses
*making some changes per the Fire Department to be sure all humans and cats are as safe as possible
*and finally – moving all 75 cats into their new home on October 10 of this year! This was achieved in one hour with proper planning and a multitude of volunteers
We had a few days in that timeline when volunteers helped us move a garage full of stuff to the new building, twice – and a day to haul everything into the correct rooms – and a full day to assemble the many items that had been donated. We could have never accomplished all of that without our volunteers. Volunteers are the backbone that no group can be without!
The cats have been in the shelter 7 weeks now and I feel, for the most part, they are adjusting better than expected. There are a few that are taking longer but that was inevitable as some do not handle change as well as others. Something you all know about cats!
In reference to my second paragraph at the top, each cat does have a backstory – some are heartbreaking and some are not so bad. Each SAW feline lives in a loving, safe and healthy environment with their SAW family, and the staff and volunteers do their absolute best to help them forget their past and only know kindness and love while in our care. Unfortunately, no matter how good SAW life can be for them, it still is not a life in a cozy home with a family of their very own.
Our kitties are treated like royalty and are given every ounce of happiness we are able to provide.
That happens for two reasons:
*amazing staff and volunteers with hearts so full of kitty love
*YOU!
Everything we do for these cats, whether it is to keep their home clean, run very high vet bills to keep them healthy, feed them their much loved canned food or attend to all the many desires and quirks that each cat has (you have witnessed it) is made possible by YOU.
Our supporters allow us to keep these sweethearts spoiled rotten in the best life possible while they wait for a family of their own to walk in our door!
This Giving Tuesday, we say thank you! Thank you for making our little shelter be all that it can be for our furry friends!
If you want to donate and hold a place in your heart, a part of what life is here for them, you can do so on our webpage, a check or PayPal.
We will be open this upcoming Saturday and Sunday from 12-4 and we would love for you to stop by. We will have plenty of ornaments on our Giving Tree, if that interests you.
We will also have many yummy bake sale items for sale to raise money for the cats.
The cats love to show off their brand new home and receive some love from visitors. They crave attention from all of you.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact mehere, on messenger, email or phone call. I will be honest and say our phone calls are backed up and we are getting to them as fast as we can with limited people so messenger, Facebook or email may be the fastest.
I wish you all a wonderful day and week!