The Happy Cat A Quarterly Newsletter Published by Forgotten Felines, Inc. www.keysforgottenfelines.org Summer 2011 vol. 3 no. 2 Special Issue: Making a Difference Join our Team What to Know About Volunteer Opportunities Plus: Tips from The Pros For more information about Forgotten Felines, Inc. call 305-743-2520
Volunteering In The Field Do you love spending time with cats? Check out these hands-on volunteer opportunities: Cat House Manager located in Marathon Oversee and maintain cat food and medical supplies. Clean (2) cages and litterboxes and feed cats/kittens daily. Medicate cats/kittens. COMMITMENT: Approximately 1-2 hours per day. Trapper Marathon and surrounding area Rescue homeless cats to be spayed/neutered and treated. Mainly evening & night hours. COMMITMENT: On-call. Driver - Must have reliable car and valid driver license. Drive cats to and from veterinary clinics (Marathon). Transport cats to and from spay clinic (Islamorada). COMMITMENT: As needed basis. Trapping Tip: We need to be very polite and professional around the general public when trapping, as they already think we are crazy! - Valerie E. Feeders/Colony Care Taker Marathon and surrounding area Monitor, feed and water neighborhood colony of cats daily. COMMITMENT: 1-3 hours daily (early mornings and/or late evenings). Responders Marathon and surrounding area Respond to incoming calls requesting rescue of injured or neglected cats. COMMITMENT: On-call. Foster Homes Marathon and surrounding area Provide a temporary home for adoptable cats/kittens until a permanent home can be found. All food, cat littler, toys, medications etc. are provided by Forgotten Felines. If comfortable, bottle-feed kittens separated from their mothers. Must be able to feed kittens several times per day. COMMITMENT: As needed basis. Foster time varies from 1-14 days. Fostering Tip: When fostering kittens, pace yourself and your emotions - there is much to do and always another cat to help. - Katie D.
PurrFect Positions Are you good with people or have an eye for style? The PurrFect Thrift Store needs you! All items sold at the PurrFect Thrift store benefit Forgotten Felines, funding our efforts to feed, medicate, spay and neuter homeless and abandoned cats in the Middle Keys and to find homes for adoptable felines. The store is located at 3580 Overseas Highway, MM48 (across from the Marathon City Park) and we currently have 3 volunteers who run the store. However, we need more help to keep the store going and running successfully! Sales Associate Greet customers and assists them with their purchasing needs. Maintain store (clean, re-arranging merchandise etc.) COMMITMENT: Consistant schedule, as little as 4 hours per week. Interior Decorator Create inviting displays and decors. COMMITMENT: Twice per month. Crew Members Meet with Interior Decorator to re-arrange and clean the store. COMMITMENT: Twice per month. Purrfect Pals: Working in the store with Ms. Purrfect (the store s resident kitty) has taught me how unique each rescue cat really is. - Stoney Drivers/Movers Must have vehicle (a pick-up is best) and valid driver license Pick up items to be donated (small furniture etc.) and take to the store. Deliver small furniture to buyers. Forgotten Felines will reimburse for gas/mileage. COMMITMENT: As needed, 1-2 times per week. Special Delivery! I am a manager in the Marathon location of Royal Furniture, a family owned business that has helped people - and animals - in need since 1984. A Forgotten Felines volunteer mentioned the PurrFect Thrift Store is always in need of donations. So, whenever we have something to donate we have it delivered directly to the PurrFect Thrift Store. - Ryan The Furniture Guy
Behind The Scenes Think your schedule is too wacky to volunteer? We even have opportunities for snow birds and night owls! Grant-Writer Assist President to prepare and submit grants for corporate and governmental funding. COMMITMENT: As needed. Volunteer & Events Coordinator/Recruiter Work with President to recruit volunteers and foster homes. Assist President with tasks and projects related to volunteers/foster homes and coordinating fundraiser and events. COMMITMENT: As needed. Join the Fun! Community Relations Work with President to find ways to build goodwill in the community. Be aware of community events in which Forgotten Felines should participate. Submit articles and photos to local news outlets when appropriate. COMMITMENT: 4-8 hours a month. Meeting Reminder Call active volunteers prior to meetings and events to remind them of times and locations. COMMITMENT: Flexible/4-6 hours a month. Photographers Take pictures of our adoptable cats and kittens for our website, Facebook and Petfinder page. COMMITMENT: Flexible/as needed. Volunteers having a great time manning the Forgotten Felines booth at the 2011 Woofstock Festival. Have questions or ideas to share with our volunteers? Shoot us an email at newsletter@keysforgottenfelines.org and attend our next meeting!
Out of Town Cats in Need Know No Borders. Our Volunteer Network Spans Beyond Monroe County. Remote Feeding Stations Many of our snowbird volunteers take the skills they learn while working with us and apply them in their summer communities up north. Several of our volunteers have established feeding stations to feed homeless colonies outside of the Florida Keys. We re happy to answer any questions you may have about starting and maintaing a feeding station in the Keys or elsewhere. Gary and Crissy are the resident caretakers of Stray Haven, Inc. an animal sanctuary in Northern Georgia. Each day they feed, medicate and give love to over 100 cats and 30 dogs on their 5-acre farm. Nearly half of the cats residing at Stray Haven have been relocated from the Keys by Forgotten Felines. Want to help? Contact Stray Haven directly, or give us a call. Stray Haven Animal Sanctuary Sometimes homeless cats lose a safe outdoor place to live due to neighborhood development. After trapping, spaying or neutering and medicating these cats, Forgotten Felines attempts to find homes for them. When this is not possible and it s unsafe to return them to the wild, we send them to live on a safe 5-acre farm in the hills of Northern Georgia called Stray Haven, Inc., a Georgia 501(c)(3) animal sanctuary that is home to over 100 cats and 30 dogs. For more information on what Stray Haven is, please visit their website, www.strayhaveninc.org.
Show Us The Money Don t Have Time to Volunteer? That s Okay. Cash is Nice Too. While our volunteers trap, foster and run the PurrFect Thrift Store for free, Forgotten Felines does have expenses that need to be paid with old fashioned currency. Cat food, veterinary care, spay clinics and travel expenses for clinic drivers are all paid for out of our operating fund. While we d like to say we are receiving enough funding through public sources like grants, we just aren t. Here s how you can help us financially: Spay-a-Cat: $40/each For a single donation of $40, one cat can be spayed or neutered and given a medical evaluation and panel of vaccinations. These cats may either be returned to an outdoor feeding colony, adopted to a loving home, or sent to live at Stray Haven Animal Sanctuary. Feed-a-Colony: $12/month With a regular donation of $12 a month, one feeding station can be supplied with dry food to feed up to 8 cats. Sponsor-a-Cat: $100/year Each cat Forgotten Felines sends to Stray Haven Animal Sanctuary in Northern Georgia costs about $100 to maintain per year. This amount covers the cost of food and medications. If you would like, we can send you photos and updates of your sponsored cat. In Memory Of... Thank you to the children and grandsons of Glen M. Tucker who made a substantial donation to Forgotten Felines. Mr. Tucker was a devoted friend to kitties.