And it represented an extra special time because we also celebrated our 20th year of doing cat rescue.
As you probably know, Catstock is not a fundraiser. It's purely a time for friendship. We did however receive enough to pay for the band, tent, porta pot, and to cover other expenses to hold Catstock.
Many thanks to all who brought in food for the 2 meals at Catstock--a lunch and supper! Food was absolutely delicious.
Thanks too to Beth, Gem, Kathy and Dave for making the streaming of the cams possible for our viewer friends to watch the activities of Catstock.
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Here were my opening thoughts for Catstock:
Our 20th
year of cat rescue Wow—it’s hard to
believe we’ve been doing this for 20 years.
This gives me great joy. We
started on 9/1/99. My daughter Dawn and I started it with one room, called
Kitty Campus. It was just rough wood
walls and 2 x 4’s. When we took on our
11th cat, I remembered, I panicked.
How on earth were we going to find homes for 11 cats? It was mind busting for me.
And then came the adoptions—it was
wonderful to place these cats into wonderful homes. And then our volunteers
came. Some that started 20 years ago are still here. And then donations came. Things were falling into place.
But, cats and kittens came too, which
meant we needed more room. Over the
years, we have continued to build on and on and on! What started as a one room rescue has turned
out to what it is today. We have a
welcoming room, a quarantine room, a surgery room with anther quarantine room
there, we have a main area, storage rooms, separate kitty/mama rooms, a Paw
Mart store, a wonderful cat sunroom and my office area.
Plus, we have our wonderful Covie area
with a fantastic 500 foot playground fence.
Our shelter house and gazebo were built to accommodate our visitors. Little things such as our Porchie and
Covie Haven, our storage sheds, Albert’s Memorial Garden and our Angel
Garden.
These things are only possibly because of
the support you have given us. There is
no way we could’ve grown as we have or
helped as many cats as we have without your support.
All of these
physical things being done for FFRC were done because of the cats, to improve
their lives, to make more room, to make life comfortable and healthy for
them. We have
taken in thousands of cats over these 20 years, all with the idea of improving
their lives.
The volunteers are the
bestest anywhere. We strive to give the
best medical care possible to each cat and kitten that arrives. And that is
because each one is important and matters.
And we have love to give. Each cat, in addition to their medical care
has a world of love to receive.
From the
volunteers, our community, our chatters and lurkers, our supporters of many
ways—there’s lots of love being passed to them.
The cam has made it possible to bring us all together. Without it, our
FFRC could probably no longer exist as it does today. We call ourselves
FFRCNation—we truly are a world of friends and family. I am deeply grateful to our volunteers and to
all of our supporters. From financial
help to emotional support to prayers to the compassion you give us, it’s all
appreciated.
How do I say
thank you enough? By continuing what we
have started here 20 years ago—by caring for the cats and kittens. Loving them,
tending to their wounds and their
battered bodies, giving confidence to those that have been abused, spaying and
neutering, giving them a full tummy
after being starved, keeping up on the best medical protocols that we can
give—all of this is done with love. This
Rescue Center is a place of Joy!
A big thanks
too to the 20tth Anniversary Committee.
You rocked with the projects you have done to help improve the rescue
center, for the cats and to help us be more efficient.
A grateful thanks to Lynnette. We have worked together for many, many years, starting at a vet clinic. We've always clicked and support each other. She isn ot only someone who works here, but a very very good friend.
Another
thank you I’d like to say is to my family, especially Steve. I love them so much. They are a
strength to me. Even on hard, sad days, they support me and encourage me.
And to you
all “out there”--You all say you have my back, to lean on you, and when I’m not
strong, to lean on you some more. I lean
on you all a lot and you always come thru.
I thank you for that.
My goal—to continue
to help these cats and kittens, to continue the spay/neuter program, to find
awesome loving homes for them and to always be thankful for what is given to
us.
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Some interesting quick facts--a quick run down of the years:
1999 and 2000—the beginning and settling in
2001—June’s Room was built
2002—Cat’s Corner Room and Kitty City were built
2003—Volunteer numbers climbed and more medical protocols were set
2004—Opened our spay/neuter clinic Earth Angels and did surgeries 3 days a week.
2005—set our health standards even higher by doing a second leukemia/fiv test to all cats after being here for 4 weeks.
2006—sponsored a huge Adopt-A-Thon here on the property
2007—built the original sun room
2008—We won the Animal Planet Cat Hero of the Year—had about 400 people come to celebrate with us!
2009—we became a part of the Ustream world
2010—central air conditioning and heating was installed
2011—Front Thumper’s Room and the Welcome Room were added.
2012—our epoxy floor was put in. Derecho arrived! Added a Storage Room
2013—Kitty Kabana was added in bright yellow and orange colors with big windows on 3 sides. Added a sidewalk to Albert’s Garden and a sidewalk to Cat’s Cove. The Mail Room, now called Paw Mart was added. Kitty Christmas happened! Our dear Paul passed away.
2014—Jenna Rada, our generator, arrived and has been tremendously appreciated. The 25 x 35 Memorial Shelter House was completed for our visitors and outside events. Our sweet Putter and Magenta passed away.
2015—The House that Jonah Built was made—it’s our 16 x 24 building for the Covies. Then we added almost 500 feet of playground fencing.
2016—We took a major step forward in spaying and neutering and joined the Humaneohio Transport team. This first year, we did 563 spays and neuters. Our new sign was placed in the front yard. We added permanent electric line to the FireHouse and a new heating system for THTJB.
2017—a cement slab was poured in the Covies playground and on that was built a jungle gym. The walkway from the main door to the sunporch had electric work put in and now can be lit up to better see at night. We did 914 spays/neuters
2018—a cement walkway was put in from the farm lane to the grey barn to help keep feet dry while feeding the cats in that barn. We also enlarged the parking lot. Extra lights were installed under the Shelter house. We moved from ustream to YouTube. New windows were put in Kitty City. We did 1,019 spays/neuters.
2019—even though the year is not yet done, we have had awesome things done this year, in honor of our 20 years. Our whole Main Area was revamped—a whole room moved, 3 rooms revised—it’s awesome and I love it. I thank you all who helped support this huge endeavor.
We also had an adoption yesterday. Our sweet Angelo was adopted and went to a happy home. He will have a dog for a friend and a new mom and dad. Such a great kitten. I'm happy for him. He will add much joy to his new home!
Remember Edwina? I received a message from her family. "She is doing quite well, enjoying her life as the dominant kittie with all of it's privileges. She has Bandit wrapped around her paw, along with everyone else in our family." I love hearing about our FFRC cats!
I also talked to a man yesterday at Catstock that had adopted Katness about 8 years ago. He so loves her and she is doing well.
We also had BOXES on Friday!
Napa - 2 boxes 18ct Lil Soups for Pania
Dim - 2 cases Fancy Feast Kitten, 2 cases 24ct Friskies, Pretty Burgundy bed for the Meijers Kitties, and one just like it for the Nekid Z's, Catnip Seeds
Mary & Randi - 2 cases Fancy Feast
Jennifer R & Family - TX Kitty Card, Cat Wands and Toys made by Jennifer her company is " The Cat Wanderer"
Patty PK - Box of Fancy Feast Filets, 2 cases Baby Food, Case 18ct Lil Soups, 2 Cases 24ct Friskies
Jeanette H - Scotland Kitty Card with note, Earl Grey, English Breakfast Teas, Cappuccino, 2 bags Chocolate covered Shortbread Bites, 2 Bags Chocolate, Peanut Butter & Caramel Bites, Hope Anchors the Soul pillow cover (very nice!)
Linda - WI Lostgirls friend - Purrrsist Cat T-Shirt
Sean & Lena G - Sign: HOPE (Hope loves it!)
Sunnie J- WA Kitty Card For PawMart: 4 Halloween Kitty & Dog towels, 550 Piece Puzzle, For FFRC: Postie Notes, pads of paper, Thank You Cards, Tape, 2 Kitty towels, White Chocolate Peanut & Caramel M&M's
From Sunnie's friend Camille: 3 Mouse Shelfie Figures & Cat Tunnel
Frankie White - 42 inch TieDye Kite for Catstock
Anony - 2 Whiskas Purrfectly Fish
TearsFromADream - 2 cases 24ct 9-Lives
Thomas & Deb S - Ohio Donation in honor of their adopted kitty Belle
Tom C - IL Donation
Cindy G - NH Note with Donation for something special or medical costs
Elain & Alan B - FL Hand colored card by Elaine and a Donation in memory of LittleKat
Marie M/M&M - NM Doggie Card with Note
Kelly S - MD 13 Purina Weight Circles
Pennysmum - MD Donation
Anony - Donation to Feliz Navidad
Fresh Encounter Inc - OH - Donation from Community Cash
Plus, more thanks!
Enomoto S --donation to FFRC
Shannan W--donation to FFRC
Daisy, Solee, Pippi & Family--plates & trays, Mr. Clean, 3 Clorox wipes, 2 boxes trash bags
Janet K--donation to FFRC
Donavon S--donation for FFRC
Judeanlee--baby food, dish brushes, 2 packs face cloths
Heather/rascalboots--baby food, pillow cases and a long body pillow
And we had more donors for Strawberry Hill--SchleeNC, Danae W, Fran D, Eartheyes, Mary & Michelle LF.
MLS/Linda--1000 potty bags, bleach, treats for Janie, 20 FF appetizers, 32 pouches of Broths,3 cases kitten FF, 50 jars baby food, education box tops for Caryn.
Jody J--pinesole, tuna, Dawn soap, storage bags, plates
Eric & Carrie--human snackers--Belvita, crackers, juice. Kitten wipes, name tags, 24 Friskies
Dave & Terri C and pets--towels, scratchers pads, bag of candy/coffee, sponges, kitten can, lots of toys, etc. A special thanks to Terri--she has done kitten fostering for years and is retiring. She donated her supplies to FFRC.
We had people that came to Catstock donate items to FFRC. First, I'm sorry but we didn't do a good job on writing some of the donated items down. But, please know I am deeply grateful. Part of my day today is having the joy of putting all those items in their proper places! And that is always a fun thing for me-----to see our supplies being replaced! I am grateful.
Tomorrow is our HumaneOhio day. Another day for spays and neuters--one of my favorite kind of days!
