Your support has carried us through this year. We can’t tell you how much it has meant to our entire team. But, we’re still going to try — with a list of all our favorite moments and milestones, all made possible thanks to our community: you.
We’ve stayed nimble, and continued to innovate, thanks to community support.
In March, when stay-at-home orders closed down our Adoption Center and we had to move our cats into foster care, we received more than 400 emails with offers to help foster.
We were the first in the East Bay to launch virtual adoptions, and are currently the only rescue organization that has been able to safely facilitate drop-in, face-to-face adoptions since March.
After losing more than 15% of our budgeted revenue due to Covid, we secured new, one-time support with Covid-relief grants and a Paycheck Protection loan to reinstate our furloughed employees and continue to save lives.
We also tightened our belts with temporary cost-cuts, like short-term rent reduction, to operate under budget and help further close our revenue gap this year.
We took in more cats than ever, more quickly than ever.
This year, the cats at Oakland Animal Services who needed Cat Town had the shortest wait times we can remember. Ever.
In fact, when we reopened our Adoption Center in July, every single one of our newly available Adoption Center cats got adopted within 2 days!
We stuck by our commitment to Oakland, transferring more than 175 cats from the city shelter’s cages so far this year — more than double the number of cats of the shelter’s second largest transfer partner.
In the same period we also helped 61 cats from other local shelters, expanding the reach of our work to cats in need at shelters in Hayward, Solano, Yolo, and beyond.
During California’s destructive wildfires, we quickly took in homeless cats at affected shelters, making more space there for families to house their evacuated animals while they recovered.
We’ve stayed true to our mission, and focused on helping the cats who need us most.
Our staff supported 50 new senior cats, cared for the 68 senior cats in our In It for Life program, and nursed more than 30 sick and injured young cats back to health.
Our fosters and volunteers helped almost 80 Forgotten Kittens grow braver, and comforted nearly 60 stressed cats to help them be at their very best for adopters.
We have even committed to caring for the cats of Maine Coon Adoptions, another rescue, when they close down their rescue operations later this year, thanks to a special grant that will help us care for those additional cats
We’re not even done yet — and you can help us keep the good news coming!
Donate. Whether you give at the end of the year, or make monthly contributions, individual donations are our primary source of support. Your generosity literally translates into more good news — more lives saved!
Spread the word! Tell a friend about our incredible cats, our hard-working volunteers, our tireless staff, and our commitment to do what it takes for cats with nowhere else to turn. Share this blog post. Comment on our social media posts on Facebook and Instagram. If you know anyone seeking an incredible feline friend, tell them we’re open for adoptions!
Volunteer. Teamwork makes the dream work, and we’d love for you to get trained to be part of the team!
With two more weeks of December still to go, we’re on track to get 300 cats adopted this year. We’ve got the resolve we need to reach our goal, and we’ve got you in our corner. Together, we can continue making 2020 a shining light for the shelter cats who had nowhere else to turn!
Thank you, from all of us,
Your Cat Town team