CRAN News
Letter to the best friends, sponsors, and volunteers in the world
Dear Friends, Donors, Volunteers and Supporters
Cats, cats, cats! Adorable kittens, wise wonderful seniors, abandoned cats, young pregnant cats, sick cats, injured cats and healthy ones . . . all deserving cats that need your financial support today!
Your donation makes the work of our all-volunteer team possible. Your contributions have allowed us to rescue more than 600 cats in the greater Eugene/Springfield community this year to date, and will provide the fuel to keep us moving forward.
Because of you, this year so far, we were able to:
- take in the five kittens and momma cat that local employees planned to poison
- help the young woman whose unspayed female cat had grown into 20 cats and kittens and were overrunning the neighborhood
- support the kind neighbor who rescued more than 20 kittens from his neighborhood
- provide over $103,000 in medical fees to heal, vaccinate and sterilize our cats
- find new homes for 383 deserving, rehabilitated, healthy cats
And our little volunteer group is growing too. In August we changed our name to better reflect who we are now and what we do. After 10 years of service “West Coast Dog and Cat Rescue (WCDC)” is now “Cat Rescue and Adoption Network (CRAN)” with a new website and logo!
And yet, we are still the same all-volunteer group, funded entirely by private donations form supporters like you (no government funding here), working tirelessly on behalf of the cats in our community and the people who care for them.
And now it’s the end of the year, time to close the books and pay our bills. It takes love to do the work we do and money to pay the medical bills and feed the hungry kitties we help. We need to raise $20,000 to meet our budget for 2017; this campaign is key to closing the budget gap.
Help us reach our $12,000 Year-End Campaign goal to save neglected and abandoned cats and find them permanent, loving homes. Please mail in your donation to PO Box 72401, Springfield, OR 97475 or go online to CatRescues.org and click on “Donate” today.
With my sincere thanks on behalf of the cats,
Louanne Koch
Board President (and a volunteer too!)
Volunteer of the Month – October 2017
Stephen Parkinson began volunteering Sept. 25, 2016 as a cleaner/socializer in the cattery inside our partner location at PetSmart on Chad Drive. Since then he has volunteered consistently (and often!) in a variety of capacities both in the cattery, for special events and behind the scenes. We can always count on this cheerful guy to say “Sure, I can do that!” when action is needed. He often steps up for special projects in addition to being an adoption counselor, cleaner/socializer and foster. He builds and distributes the monthly SignUpGenius web-based cattery volunteer schedules for PetSmart North and Petco and this coming December he will co-coordinate Santa Pet Photos fundraiser. On the second Sunday of the month he attends the volunteer CRAN Board of Directors’ monthly meetings, and . . . he works full time! At home in Junction City, Stephen and his wife Liz provide a loving home to 17 rescue cats in preparation for their future plans to build and maintain a rescue group in Roseburg. Thank you Stephen for your good heart and great energy in support of Cat Rescue & Adoption Network.
Volunteer of the Month – September 2017
Toni Ray, our volunteer of the month for September 2017, has been active with our cat rescue group since 2014 first as a foster and socializer. In late 2016, Toni founded her own group, Community Cat Advocacy Team Springfield (CCATS). CCATS utilizes the trap/neuter/return (TNR) concept to partner with other community resources to improve the lives of homeless cats; feral, stray, abandoned, and the kittens born to them. She has worked tirelessly to thus far rescue an
estimated 159 cats and TNR nearly 300. Many of them found their new families through Cat Rescue & Adoption Network. When she’s not trapping, nurturing or advocating on behalf of the cats through CCATS, Toni enjoys long hikes with her two Rott/Pit mix dogs, Lulu & Marlow (both rescues) and especially spending time with her grand baby Mackenna who is already following in Grandma’s footsteps with the animals. “It takes a village to rescue.
I love that CRAN is a part of my village as we share the same passion and commitment to the animals in need in our community!” Congratulations Toni and Thank You!
Volunteer of the Month – August 2017
Donna Johnson has volunteered with us in the cattery since 2013, always as a cleaner, at our partner location inside PetSmart on Chad Drive in Eugene. “I love cats! I was raised with cats and I love everything about Cat Rescue & Adoption Network!” Donna said on a recent afternoon shift. Every Tuesday and Thursday morning, Donna rises at 5:00am and catches the 6:15am bus at her Springfield home to reach the cattery by 8:30am. She provides care and feeding to the cats available for adoption, plays with them and interacts with visitors. At about 11am, she catches the bus again and returns home, another two-hour excursion. “My brother says, ‘that’s too much bus riding for me’ and I tell him ‘well, I’m not you!’” She has one cat at home, Missy, who is 10 years old. When asked what advice she might offer a new volunteer in the cattery, Donna said “Clean the cages and do it right. Be good to these cats!” Thank you, Donna for your commitment and dependability. Congratulations as our August 2017 Volunteer of the Month!
Papa’s Pizza Fundraiser – Sept 21, 2017 – All day
All Cat Rescue & Adoption Network friends, volunteers and fans.
Invite your Friends! Bring your Family! Organize a group of coworkers? Print out and hand the flyers to everyone you meet! At work! On the street! (We get 50% of all proceeds from anyone presenting our flyer at the time of ordering.)
Buy Fundraiser bucks for future use. Give your friends, neighbors and countrymen gift cards for National Friends, Neighbors and Countryman day! (we get 25% of all fundraiser bucks and gift card sales.
Click the Flyer below and print out the PDF and bring it with you.
Volunteer of the Month – July 2017
Jane Kwiatkowski – I have loved cats all my life. One of my earliest and happiest memories is of my family’s black cat, pressing against my side like a wall of softness half as tall as me when I was a baby. My best buddy of childhood was my grey cat who played with me and followed me like a dog everywhere I went in our neighborhood. When my husband and I were newly married, our first “cat” was a quietly smiling, fuzzy black gumdrop-shaped toy cat who lived on the top shelf of our bookcase in our apartment where we renters were not allowed to have a real cat.
Cats became a permanent part of my family when my children were young, and a tiny grey-and-white tuxedo girl was dropped in our yard when we weren’t looking. Of course, we had to get her a friend, so she was soon joined by a spotted black-and-white tuxedo boy from the shelter. In the 30 years since then, we have had five more cats, two or three at a time, up through our current two boys, one of whom “followed me home” from the PetSmart North cattery in 2013.
Until recently I was always busy with family and work, so I never had time to do more for cats than share my home and love with these seven furry family members. But now, after retiring, I finally have time to join other volunteers helping cats and kittens find real homes and families.
I am one of the cattery volunteers who helps the cats and kittens get as comfortable as possible so that prospective adopters can see them at their best and most social. What I love is patiently waiting for them to overcome their shyness to allow me to make contact. I love the delicate extension of trust they give – if you wait long and quietly enough. And best of all is the chance to give them tenderness once they let you begin petting them, or when they finally climb into your lap, or when a little kitten relaxes completely into sleep in your arms, or leaps with delight after a toy. (Editors note: Jane was too shy in her bio to mention that she is the creator of our new logo design. Everyone is very excited)
Volunteer of the Month – June
Roxanne Jensen assists our cat rescue efforts behind the scenes all the way from Spotsylvania, Virginia(!). Roxanne works with our online cattery scheduling system (SignUpGenius) and our volunteer database to determine how many hours volunteers contribute each month. She pulls three different reports for the adoption center partner volunteers (Petsmart on Chad Drive, Petsmart on Willamette and Petco at Valley River). “I use what they signed up for and what they say in the comment section to determine their total time. Then I use a report in the new database to give the active fosters their volunteer hours.” To catch many other volunteers who work outside the adoption centers (transport, medical coordination, etc., etc.) Roxanne sends a monthly email to ask them for their time. These volunteer hours are used when applying for grants and donations and help us estimate what it actually takes to run our all-volunteer cat rescue group. “I volunteer because I love animals. If I could take them all home I would. I stay with WCDC because I started there and you have made it so easy to stay and help out.” Thank you Roxanne! Roxanne has been an active volunteer since 2015.
Volunteer of the Month – May
Jessica Kosie is one of our administrative and paperwork goddesses without whom we could not function. She has been an integral part of the Petsmart South team since 2013 when she was a socializer at the cattery at 2858 Willamette St. Now she puts together most of the adoption folders and cage cards for the cats and places the weekly Register Guard newspaper ad along with ads in other local publications to promote our adoptable cats. Jessica handles the Lane Rescues 30
Volunteer of the Month – February
Dave Dorrance has been a dedicated, dependable volunteer for WCDC for two years (and counting). In fact, it was exactly two years ago today, March 24, that Dave completed orientation/training as a socializer in the adoption center inside Petsmart on Chad Drive in Eugene. The kitties there look forward to greeting him Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 1:00-4:00pm where Dave gives them lots of fun toy time and snuggles.He fills visitors in on the adoption process and loves to share the unique history of each rescued kitty to find just the right fit. 30