Blog Posts

Anonymous Donor Issues Challenge to Support Craig Street Cats

21/5/2016

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact:

Lynne Scott
Craig Street Cats
16-1421 St. James St.
204 421-1919
[email protected]
www.craigstcats.ca

Anonymous Donor Issues Challenge to Support Craig Street Cats

Winnipeg, MB, May 21, 2016: In a spectacular show of support for the work done by Craig Street Cats, a major donor has offered to match donations received throughout the month of May, up to $20,000.

"One of our major donors has issued a challenge to bring in much needed support for our life saving programs for Winnipeg's community cats." said Lynne Scott, Executive Director of Craig Street Cats. According to Scott, the donor has offered to match, dollar for dollar, all donations received in May, up to a total of $20,000. "This comes at the end of our most challenging year to date," says Scott. "Last spring's forced move, the summer's disease outbreak, and delays obtaining necessary permits from the city all put us in a precarious position. This matching challenge is truly a Godsend." So far CSC supporters have contributed just over $7,000 toward the challenge. The organization has 10 days to raise the remaining $13,000 in order to receive the full $20,000 from the donor.

About Craig Street Cats: Craig Street Cats is a non-profit organization working to humanely reduce Winnipeg's free roaming cat population, rescue kittens and educate the public about community cats. CSC is the largest cat specific animal welfare organization in Winnipeg, caring for over 750 cats in its managed colonies, foster homes and adoption centre.

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Just 10 days to go . . .

20/4/2015

Things are moving very quickly, now. We have possession of our new adoption centre, and are busily drawing plans for the cat enclosures and other facilities. Many people have volunteered to help with construction and moving. We have raised enough money to pay for all the materials we need for the interior renovations. Thank you for your generosity!

Unfortunately, we will not be able to move any cats into the new centre because we cannot pay for an air makeup unit. We are still over $70,000 short of our goal. Some of that would have paid for items that we can do without, for awhile. Most of it, however, is needed for the air makeup unit. We have 10 days before we must be out of our current space. We desperately need your help to make sure that we can take the cats directly to their new adoption centre. http://youcaring.com/craigstreetcats

As Moving Day Approaches . . .

21/3/2015

I am quite sure that everyone in Winnipeg who cares about the subject already knows that we are moving very soon. I have spent a lot of time explaining why, and telling everyone how expensive it will be, and asking for help. We have started a crowd funding campaign that has raised over $18,000, so far. You have been incredibly generous with your support. With all that, we have raised only 18% of what we need for our move. Now, we could get anxious, or worried, or upset about that, but I don't think that would be a very good idea.

Neither would it be justified.

It turns out that we have fans and supporters that we didn't even know about, and they are doing some fundraising on our behalf! A few weeks ago I received an email from a fellow named Kurtis, who belongs to a band called Revenge of the Trees, which hails from Edmonton. Kurtis wanted to know if CSC was up for a benefit concert to help with our building fund. Well, of course we were. Next thing I know there is a concert planned for the Park Theatre on March 31st, and not only is Revenge of the Trees playing, two other bands have joined in. Winnipeg bands Autumn Still and Greek Riots will also be playing at a concert very aptly named "Save the Kitties a Fundraiser for Craig Street Cats". It just so happens that we have a few tickets available at the adoption centre, 489 Madison St., for just $10 each, starting Monday. If you'd rather, you can buy online at http://ticketf.ly/1GUMwts. Remaining tickets will be available at the door the day of the concert. Of course I will be there running a fundraising & silent auction table.

It seems that musicians are not the only artists who like cats -- a number of very talented visual artists have offered works in support of our efforts. We have quite a collection of absolutely stunning art, ranging from prints, to paintings, to stained glass and even a mask. To honour their donations we are holding a special event called Classics, Cats & Cabernet on April 10th. The evening will include classic, mellow jazz; a silent art auction; a regular silent auction; all in an intimate atmosphere.

Doors open at 7 pm, with the art auction starting at 8. Guests will have the honour of bidding on wonderful creations from local artists Coey, Diana Chuy, Sherry Wood, Ewa Tarsia, Ann Rallison, and more.

Tickets are available at our adoption centre or online, for just $15.

As you can see, things are not as dark as they might seem. With the help of some wonderfully talented artists and musicians, and support from incredible people like you, we will get there. The cats will get their new adoption centre including everything they need to stay healthy, happy and sweet smelling, and we will have YOU to thank for it.

We're Moving!

24/1/2015

This is horrendously short notice, and absolutely not the way we want to move, but we have been left with no choice, and must ask for your help preparing a new home for the cats. Our current lease expires on April 30, and, although we have been good tenants, the landlord has declined to renew our lease. This means that we must find an appropriate space almost immediately so that we can move the cats by the end of April.

What is an appropriate space, you ask? Well, we need at least 3,000 sq ft of clear, usable space (5,000 would be better, and 10,000 would give us room to grow), with modern plumbing, heating and electrical (200 amps minimum). Air conditioning and air exchange are vital. Lots of windows would be nice. A parking lot for staff, volunteers and customers to leave their cars. Easy access to central bus routes, for our bus riding volunteers. Central location, so it's easy to find. And, of course, the price has to be right. We can afford rent of around $3,000/month.

Of course, once we find this space we will have to renovate it for the cats. We will need offices and retail space, storage, an isolation room for sick cats, an intake room, and free range rooms for healthy, adoptable cats and kittens. A meeting or classroom would be nice, too. All of that will take money and man power. Many of you have volunteered to help with the building and moving phases of this project, which leaves us needing money.

We know you all want to help in any way you can, so we have put together some creative ways for you to join our growing list of builders.

Builders Bricks: $25. These are a little different than the ones on the front wall of our current adoption centre. The bricks are printed onto vinyl banners, and you can sign, colour or decorate your brick as you like. The banners will be permanently mounted on a wall in the new adoption centre.
Decorator Tiles: $100. Those who want to help us build in a more literal sense have the option to purchase a ceramic tile, paint or decorate it to your liking, and return it to us for use in the adoption center. Your tiles will be used to decorate the adoption centre in creative ways.
Brass Name Plates: contributions of $1000 and more will be recognized in a permanent display.
Brass Plaques and Room Dedications: permanent commemoration of substantial contributions to our new adoption centre.

We are accepting orders for Builder Bricks and Decorator Tiles now. They will be available for decoration in a week or so. Larger contributions are greatly appreciated, and appropriate recognition will be ready for the opening of our new adoption centre. Please visit our Building Fund page for more information.

Things got a little out of hand . . .

23/3/2014

Over the past month we have been helping with a situation that got out of control. A family in a remote community asked for our help dealing with a very large number of cats that had been left in their care. The organization that had originally promised to help backed out, leaving the family without access to cat food,
supplies or veterinary care.

To date we have removed 23 cats and kittens, and provided medical treatment for another 25. Another 15 to 20 cats must be removed, as we have space. All the while we are providing food, supplies and support so the family can continue caring for the remaining cats.

As you can imagine, this is putting quite a strain on our bank account. The total cost of spay / neuter, vaccination, deworming, transporting and housing the cats until adoption will be well over $15,000. We simply cannot absorb this cost without affecting our other programs, so we are asking for your help.

Of course, the most urgent things are money, cat food and litter. We are thrilled to accept any or all of those at our adoption centre. Credit card donations can also be made at http://www.craigstcats.ca/donate.html Cheques can be mailed to 489 Madison St., Wpg, R3J 1J2

Items from our Amazon.ca wishlist are also very welcome: http://www.amazon.ca/registry/wishlist/3PKPXKXLZPBMU

Foster homes are needed for many of the cats. Please email [email protected] if you can help.

These cats are healthy and very well socialized. They will make wonderful pets for their adoptive families. 4 have already been adopted, and another 2 will be going home in a few days. We need more adoptive homes for the rest of them.

Thank you for your help!

The cats need your help to stay warm

10/1/2014

UPDATE: Thank you to all of our incredible supporters. With your help we have paid the outstanding balance on our Hydro bill, and started to pay down our vet bill. We could not have done this without your help!

I have been putting off writing this for the past couple of weeks, but today I am forced to come to you for help. From time to time last year I wrote about our financial struggles. Each time you came forward and helped with the immediate problem, and I am extremely grateful for that. Unfortunately, the underlying problem is still there. Our day to day operations are not bringing in enough to cover our operating expenses.

Today I received a phone call from Manitoba Hydro, stating that our electricity and gas are scheduled for cut off on the 15th of this month unless we make arrangements to pay the almost $3000 we owe them before the end of this month. The cats will be cold and in the dark if we do not make that deadline. Sadly, that is only a small portion of our shortfall from last year.

2013 was an amazing year. Your generosity let us help over 400 new cats. Our colony manager program grew so that many more neighbourhoods are working to reduce the number of cats on their streets. Our foster program grew to accommodate over 100 cats and kittens at a time. We found permanent, loving homes for over 300 cats and kittens (that's an estimate, but I suspect the actual numbers are a bit higher). Our volunteer base grew dramatically. CSC incorporated as a first step to achieving registered charity status, and the application process is ongoing.

These are all incredible, amazing things, and you helped us raise almost all of what they cost. Almost. Our budget is $250,000 / year. We finished 2013 with $15,000 in outstanding bills. When you think about it, that is rather remarkable. That $15,000 represents a 6% shortfall for the year. It is absolutely amazing the amount of money that came in to support our work last year. I truly wish that we could just celebrate that achievement. Sadly, we can't.

Today I must ask you, again, to help us cover our outstanding debts. Short term, we must raise $3,000 to cover our Hydro bills. If we do not send that amount to Manitoba Hydro our gas and electricity will be
disconnected. We must also raise $12,000 to pay off our other outstanding debts, most of which are vet bills. These amounts are over and above what is needed to pay current bills.

How can you help? Lots of ways.

1. Make a donation online at http://craigstcats.ca/donate.html

2. Send a cheque to Craig Street Cats, 489 Madison St., Wpg, MB, R3J 1J2

3. Drop into our adoption centre and buy some of our fundraising items. We have gorgeous calendars that feature our beautiful cats, the world's best cat beds, cat trees, cat toys, and a lot of other items that make
great gifts for cats and the people who love them.

4. Challenge your friends and family to meet or beat a pledge you have made.

5. Share this post. The more people who read it, the more likely we are to reach our goals.

Thank you.

No, we won't sugar coat the truth

10/12/2013

I just had a most unpleasant phone call from someone who has recently moved into Winnipeg from a rural property and left a group of outdoor cats behind. To her credit, this person had, over the years, spayed or neutered all of the cats, and had provided food and basic shelter for them. Until she moved.

I had the unpleasant duty of informing her that the cats were hers, and that leaving them behind is considered abandonment. Further, that there are no shelters in Winnipeg that can take a group of outdoor cats. The only possible exception would be the Winnipeg Humane Society, where the cats would be killed because they are not adoptable.

The rest of the call was even more unpleasant. Apparently I am supposed to sugar coat the truth and let people believe that everything is wonderful when they leave animals behind or surrender them to a kill shelter. I am not supposed to use the words abandonment and kill I am supposed the allay their feelings of guilt by saying something comforting and untrue.

Well, that just won't happen.

You should feel guilty about things like this. You should feel so guilty that you don't do it. You should feel so guilty that you move heaven and earth to find an appropriate placement for the cats if you can't take them with you.

A Little Cooperation, Please

19/11/2013

Animal welfare is a tough business. There is a never ending supply of animals, but a limit on the number of volunteers and donations we can secure. Because our business is hard, it is vital that all animal welfare agencies operating in a community work together.

Cooperation means sharing things like knowledge and best practices, and sometimes sharing supplies when times get desperate.

Also of critical importance is the need to work together to create a schedule of events that allows every agency the best possible chance at raising funds and finding good homes for the thousands of animals we collectively care for each year.

I am concerned that this cooperation is not happening in Winnipeg. Just today, the largest animal welfare agency in Manitoba announced a “Free Cat Day” for this coming Friday, November 22. Also this weekend, are two scheduled Craig Street Cats adoption events for our fostered cats.

This is the third time within a year that this agency has scheduled a “Free Cat Day” before one of our larger adoption events.

This agency has made no attempt to contact us to inquire about our over-capacity situation or our adoption event schedule. If a phone call was too troublesome, a quick search of our website, Facebook page, or
Twitter account would have informed them that we had an adoption event scheduled for this weekend.

The continual overlap of their “Free Cat Day” events is becoming harder and harder for me to believe to be coincidental.

This large agency knows that the no-kill shelters in Winnipeg are struggling. To knowingly schedule a “Free Cat Day” on the same weekend as a no-kill shelter’s large and publicized adoption event, is irresponsible.

Craig Street Cats is not in a position, financially, to offer our cats for free and we do not agree with the practice of discounting our animals to nothing. The City of Winnipeg has an over population of cats in part because people consider cats and kittens to be disposable. Offering them for free and using a speedy adoption process with less stringent reference checks, reinforces this mindset and perpetuates the problem.

A large number of the cats and kittens given away for free this weekend will end up in classified ads or discarded at no-kill shelters as people reconsider their “free purchase.” Simply put, a free item takes a lot less thought to acquire than one that involves a modest investment and a shopping trip that takes longer than 40 minutes.

If you are considering adopting a cat or kitten this weekend or know someone who is, please urge them to visit a no-kill shelter where cats and kittens are valued and where we depend on the co-operation of Winnipeg’s no-kill donors and supporters for our survival.

If you are a supporter of an animal welfare agency that conducts “Free Cat Days” please consider contacting them to let them know that such events are not good for reducing the unwanted cat population and in order for you to continue to support them, you need a commitment that they will stop these events and cooperate with local no-kill rescues on future scheduling.

You may also want to respectfully voice your concerns in ways such as social media and in media comment sections.

Information regarding our adoption events this weekend is available at http://www.craigstcats.ca/adoption-events.html

Reality Check

15/11/2013

Every Friday you usually see me posting about $5 Friday, trying to impress on our supporters that small gifts given by many people add up to big dollars. This is very true, but, lately, the small gifts have not been
able to keep up with our need.

It is time for us to do a reality check. Ideally, monthly income should cover, or come very close to covering, regular monthly expenses. Fundraising events are then used to create a contingency fund so that when there is a small shortfall or an emergency the fund can be used to make up the difference.

It costs $20,000 to run CSC for one month. Over the past few months we have had shortfalls of from $5,000 to $15,000 each month. The size of our shortfalls has depleted our resources to the point where we have nothing left.

In the short term, we have almost $5,000 worth of bills that must be paid within the next week, and over 700 cats and kittens that are depending on us. Long term, we must find a way to rebuild our monthly income to meet our ongoing expenses.

So, today I am not asking you to make a small gift for $5 Friday. I am asking you to help us raise $5,000 to get through the next week. Every penny will help. Every dollar is precious. Every time you share this
post will bring us closer to that goal.

Please Donate

Name the Kittens Contest

6/11/2013

Those of you who have been to our facebook page over the past week will already know about our name the kittens contest. For those who haven't, two cute, fluffy, white kittens came in from one of our managed colonies. We were stumped for names, so we decided to have a contest to name the boys. Nineteen names were submitted for the contest, and now the fun begins. From November 6 to 12 you get to vote for your favourite names. You may vote as many times as you like, but each vote must be accompanied by a $5 donation. To vote for a name, just click on its button.

The contest is over, now, and the kittens are named Puff and Cotton. Thank you to everyone who participated. You helped us raise almost $200 to care for the boys!

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