By Ruth aka Kattaddorra
Cat Rescue Shelters are struggling more than ever for money right now, but so are many people too.
If, like us, you are on a tight budget and find it hard to donate much in money, there are still ways to help the needy cats in your local shelter.
Apart from buying a few extra tins of cat food for them every time you shop for your own cats needs, you could save your old bedding, such as sheets, blankets, duvets, etc and towels too as these make cosy beds for cats in care.
They don’t mind if they are quite worn, so don’t throw them out when you buy new, wash and fold them and they will be much appreciated at the Shelter.
We share out anything and everything we don’t want or need to our local Cats Protection and Kays Hill cattery, what they can’t use for the cats they can sell to raise funds.
So, bric a brac, toiletries, books, CDs, toys, crockery, you name it, the fund raisers will be able to sell it and every bit of cash will add up to buy food, pay vets bills etc.
Maybe there isn’t a Rescue Shelter near you? Is there a Charity shop (UK) Thrift shop (USA) you could give unwanted goods to? Our Cats Protection have quite a few charity shops around, unfortunately none are near to us, which is a pity as some good stuff can be bought in them Giving goods to those shops or spending money in them helps needy cats too.
Do you work somewhere where you could be a collection point for cat food and bedding? My sister Barbara works in funeralcare and her bosses are very happy for her to have a poster in her window asking for donations of food and bedding to be left there for our local Rescue Shelters. People here are very generous and all that is given is much appreciated by CP and Kays Hill.
What makes this acceptable to people who don’t particularly care about cats is that she collects for needy people too, so no one can complain we only care about animals.
Over the last few years 4,000 pairs of peoples donated old spectacles have winged their way to the Third World. We toddle off to Specsavers with 100 at a time and they send them off to give better sight to people who couldn’t afford to buy any.
Her ‘Knickers for Africa’ collection was so successful that underwear was piled high and a real headache to get so much sent off. This was for women and girls there too poor to afford any underwear and who were being raped because they had none.
It’s all about helping those who need it and most definitely cats need help right now from people who care about them, so it’s good there are more ways than giving money to do this.
Thanks everyone.
Some people don’t realise that their old stuff and unwanted gifts could help charities, we often have people bring us stuff to our house as well as Babz office.
Some lonely elderly ladies here knit small squares with odd wool and Babz painstakingly sews them together to make small cosy blankets (I’m a terrible sewer lol my excuse and I’m sticking to it) the rescue cats love them. It makes those ladies feel good too as they are kept busy knowing they are helping cats.
This is a great poster and idea for an article – well done Ruth! I always donate my old stuff but not to cat shelters because here they don’t seem to need anything. I donate to the local council run second hand shop – the money made from everything they sell goes to charity to help poor people I think but I’m not certain – but everytime I bring them a bag of stuff and buy another bag of stuff they always tell me its going to a good cause. The ladies who aork there are all volunteers. I’d love it to go to cats though 🙂 – there are plenty of support systems in place for people and children so it’s not my first choice.
It is a really good poster. I like the way you do articles for your shelter. It is using skills to good effect. As for unused stuff. What a good way to reuse it. We all have unused stuff.
Some great ideas. I particularly like going through what we have but don’t use and reusing it for a good purpose or selling it if it has a monetary value. There is a lot of stuff in bedrooms across the country that is never used and it is worth billions I guess.
Excellent picture too. Thanks for the ideas Karen. You’re clearly a true ailurophile.
Donations of usable goods as well as money…volunteering to help at the shelter/rescue/adoption events…fostering…so many ways to help animals in need.
Being low-income with OCD (Obsessive Cat Disorder), I foster for the local cat rescue. I currently have 2 litters (8 kittens total) that are beginning their journey through the vet clinic prior to adoption. I live in a very small trailer, so I don’t usually have more than 1 litter at a time. I had a nursing momcat and another rescue had orphans in need, I couldn’t say no.
Also about a year ago, I decided it was time to go through my tiny home and dispose of anything I hadn’t used in months. I donated the reusable goods to the local shelter from which most of my foster kittens come from. Several times per year (when the donations outgrow the storage barn), a volunteer will host a “yard sale” to benefit the shelter.
I LOVE the poster!
Our shelter in Greenville can even take used towels if the strings are cut so the cats don’t become entangled. There’s also an Amazon Wish List as well as a donation link on their webpage.
I’m still very involved with the shelter where I did rescue. I write a lot for them. I’ve probably done 10 articles in the last 2 months about the puppy mill seizures and adoption events they hold. Writing for Examiner gives me a way to get these events and shelter needs out there to the public.
When we were there over the weekend, I left business cards they can hand out to people who come in looking for pets. I can write lost articles and get the word and pictures out there that a persons pet is lost. Some people check the shelter cages every day for a lost pet.
There are lots of ways to help even if you can’t adopt. We still feel useful 🙂