A Dollar Here, A Dollar There

I was thinking about this.  If everyone that follows this blog gave just one dollar - I'd have FIVE DOLLARS!  HA HA.  Seriously, I know of five people that read this because they've told me.  But I think more than five people read it, so let's say if everyone that follows my rescue page on Facebook gave a dollar a week, I could 'support my habit.'  The habit is feeding and caring for all those cats in the Beechwood section of Rochester on a daily basis.  

Today, I would need 195 friends to donate a dollar - that includes $160 to pay for the two cats I trapped this morning, and another $35 to pay for the food I fed to over 100 cats.  That's $35 per day to feed all those cats.  (40 pounds of dry food - $20 - and $15 of wet food).

I’ve been doing this for 20 years now, not to the grand scale of 19 locations that I go to each day, but its been many years that I have been feeding at that many locations.  If I added it all up, the cost of what I do……………….  And lets just use the number 10 (years)………………….

$35 (per day) x 365 = $12,775

365 x 10 (years) = 3,650 x $35 = $127,750

HOLY F.  I mean holy moly.  That’s mindblowing.  I had to calculate that twice to make sure I was doing it right.  I CANNOT believe I’ve spent that much money over 10 years on feeding homeless cats.   That’s just FEEDING! 

That’s not to mention all the cats I’ve had TNR’d ($80- per cat), and all the rescues I’ve made ($80 adoption fee for adults, and $120 for kittens).  Most often, those rescues include a first office exam, and combo test to see if they are FelV positive.  That fee is not included in the adoption fee.  So that also comes out of my pocket.  Then there are the cats still in foster (Buffy, Parsley, Hermie, Jule, Sky and Joey), the cats that have cost over $1000 to treat for this and that (Buffy, Connor).

There is something wrong with this picture.  We have too many cats on the streets, too many cats suffering and looking to us to help them.  I am a one woman soldier JUST IN THIS ONE QUADRANT OF TOWN.  Is this a city problem?  Should the City be paying for this?  Should they be helping to TNR, to reduce the number of cats that need our help?  YES!!!

Do I want a day off from doing this?  YES!  

Do I need a fundraiser?  YES!  I need more than one to make up for the $12K that comes out of my paychecks just to FEED these cats.  Do I have time to put one together?  No.  We all have jobs, I am no exception, but I also devote 1.5 hours a day at 3 am. to go out and feed and care and shelter these cats.  My weekends are almost full time devoted to showing kittens (which I am not thrilled that there are this many kittens – 22 so far for me this year, last year it was 60).

Ideally, I would love for someone to say – JANINE!  I’LL DO IT!  I will handle it all!  I will get book the venue (you just pay for it!), order the entertainment, gather gift cards, and baskets and items for giveaway, plan the food and drink menu, decorate the venue, have someone sit at registration table…  You just show up! J  And once its over, I will collect the baskets left because people left before the raffle, take them home to store until they can pick up their baskets, I will stay and clean up the venue  to make sure its left the way it was presented to us that morning.  What am I forgetting – there seems like more in between that has to be done.   

Today, I trapped two cats that are NOT females but were supposed to be.  I am trying to get the females that are having kittens out there to spay.  But I got these two sweethearts instead. 

FERNDALE & WEBSTER Kitty

PARSELLS #3 Kitty

Can I use donations today?  I sure could!  If anyone can contribute, even $1, my life would be .1% better for it.  I can breathe a little easier when the bills are due twice a month.  That number to call is 585.288.0600.

Thank you for listening. 

Have a nice day.

"Do all the good you can,

by all the means you can,

in all the ways you can,

in all the places you can,

at all the times you can,

to all the people you can,

as long as ever you can."