Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Catathon Post

Building a Better Life for Feline Friends--yes, that's what we are doing when we have our Catathons! This next one will be our 3rd one!

WHEN:    The date is June 23rd, a Sunday.
TIME:       Starts at 1:00 and goes to 4:30 pm (ish)
WHERE:   Watch us on our 24/7 kitty cam live!

SITE:         ustream.tv/ffrc  or  tinyurl.com/ffrckittycam

Join the fun, show your support, enjoy the afternoon with us. Make the pledge phones ring! This event is very similar to a telethon.

There will be almost 40 baskets to bid on and many individual items also. To place your bids, you must call 419-393-2400 and a phone volunteer will take your bid.

Our project: We've already started it! The builders, Barth's, have always trusted us that we will get the bill paid. This project is bigger than the others we've done. We are building a Mail Room and an extended Thumper's Room.  The existing Thumper's Room will still be the check-in room for new arrivals, where incoming baths are done, the first FIV/leukemia test is done, along with the initial vaccinations and worming. Shortly after, the new incomers will move into the bigger Thumper's Room where they can have lots of room to play during their quarantine time.

We are very excited about the new Mail Room. This is where all items that we use for a weekly auction, Day Sale, Catathon, etc., will be stored. When it's time to mail,  these items will be wrapped, prepared and labeled all in the Mail Room, instead of in the house. We'll store extra boxes, tape, envelopes, packing material--all of it, in the new Mail Room. So happy about this new room too!

This year, we won't be having the huge "garage sale" type sales that we did last year, but we will have some items for sale. During the Catathon, we always have about 15 or so items available to buy outright for a set price, usually $20 and under!We will of course, have these things available on a sale table for Catathon visitors and for those of you who will be viewers and participants! We will again do that this year. We have some new items that will be up for sale (deck of playing cards that will feature FFRC cats, a pet first aid kit, some really neat cat ribbon magnets, etc.) These items you will be able to buy outright, as they will have a set price and we will have a nice quantity of them.

Here is a suggested basket list that we will be putting together for the Catathon. If you would like to send somethng to put towards a basket, that would be wonderful. Use your imagination! If you perhaps do send something, please clearly mark on the outside of the box CATATHON.  ALL donated items MUST arrive by MAY 20.  This is important, as it takes us a bit of time to get pictures of the complete baskets and to be organized.

1-Bird Basket (seed, feeders, books, binocs, suet, seed bells, bird houses, etc.)
2-Picnic/Grill (grilling utensils, sauces, picnic basket, table cloth, food tent, ant & fly traps, napkins, etc.)
3-Garden (pots, garden tools, seeds, gazing bal, yard decor, knee pads, gloves, little shovels, etc.)
4-Kids: Summer Fun (bubbles, chalk, kites, yard games, sun visors, beach towel, jump rope, etc.)
5-Kids: Winter Fun (coloring books, stickers, books, games, crafts, magic tricks, etc.)
6-Boys Ages 6-12 (trucks, cars, action figures, kid tools, games, balls, squirt guns, jacks, etc.)
7-Girls Ages 6-12 (jewelry, nail polish, lotion, books, dolls, games, squirt guns, hair fun things, etc.)
8-Baby (bibs, bottles, wipes, diapers, onesies, sleepers, rattles, baby toys, baby oil, shampoo, etc.)
9-Relaxation (manicure, pedicure massage gift cards, and oils, candles, relaxing music CD, essential oils, tea, bath sales, heating pad, bubble bath, etc.)
10-Winter Fun (sled, snowman supplies, mittens, scarf, thermos with hot chocolate & marshmallows, slippers, cozy blanket, car window scraper, etc.)
11-Summer Fun (corn hole, yard darts, star gazing stuff, bug catcher, bubbles, sprinkler, glow sticks, etc.)
12-Family Game Night (puzzles, movies, games, popcorn, soda maker, fun drinking cups, dominoes, etc.)
13-Movie Night (family movies, popcorn, movie candy, cozy blanket, etc.)
14-Cat basket (toys, beds, treats, food, collars, etc.)  can have 2-3 cat baskets
15-Dog basket (toys, beds, treats, food, collars, leash, etc.)
16-Inspirational/Spiritual (books, inspiring pictures, stationary, cards, etc.)
17-Pizzeria (pizza cooking stone, ingredients, mugs, pizza cutter, hot pads, napkins, etc.)
18-NO-wine basket (wine glasses, corks, corkscrew, napkins, wipe picnic bag/basket, coasters, ice bucket, cork holder, wine rack, cheese/crackers, etc.)
19-Lego basket (all sorts of Lego kits)
20-Gift Card pa-looza! (an assortment of gift cards to barious restaurants, stores, gas stations, iTunes, etc.)
21-FFRC Basket (anything FFRC related--magnets, t-shirts, FFRC logo stuff, etc.)
22-Kitchen/Baking gadgets (all kinds of fun kitchen/cooking things)
23-Seasonings & Spices (all kinds of seasonings/spices, spice rack, measuring spoons, etc.)
24-Sewing basket (needles, thread, cloth remnants, thimble, hooks/snaps, lace, sissors, buttons, etc.)
25-Amish--anything related to Amish cooking (recipes, noodles, etc.)
26-Hello Kitty (anything with Hello Kitty on it!)
27-Charles Wysocki (anything with Charles Wysocki name on it)
28-Laurel Burch (anything of Laurel Burch)
29-Golf (anything golf related--(books, tees, balls, towels, golf head toppers, etc.)

We will be having 40ish amount of baskets. If you'd like to design your own, please e-mail me to let me know what you are planning! 
Remember, we always have an assortment of Big Ticket Items too. These can be afghans, a special book series, collector signed plates, just something that's an extra special item! These will be sold individually, not in a basket. If you are sending in a Big Ticket Item, be sure to put a note inside that that's what it's for! Mark all incoming boxes meant for the Catathon with CATATHON written on the outside please.!


Very shortly after the baskets have a winning bid, we will be mailing them out to all the winners! We can mail these items world wide. We do ask that if it's outside the USA, that the person adds on an extra $10 to help with postage. Payment will be taken by PayPal, check, money order. 

During the bidding, a caller can call in numerous time to raise the bid. A couple weeks before the Catathon, we will have everyone pre-register their name, phone, address, cam name (if have one). This helps us with sending things out and for when you call in to bid or place an order for an item with a set cost.


Please also remember that all donated items for the Catathon need to arrive BY MAY 20TH. Thank you ever so very much for your support! We're gonna have some fun!