FUNDRAISER EVENT THWARTED
PLEA FOR PERMISSION TO CONDUCT FUNDRAISER
Island Cats has been the Town’s feral cat caretaker for 6 months now. 295 cats have been trapped, 77 have been spayed or neutered, 162 medically treated including revaccination, 20 were found dead or were euthanized, 18 kittens were adopted, 16 cats were relocated and 2 returned to their owner. We care for 664 cats at 78 feeding stations. We have fed every night, rain or shine, and cleaned all stations every morning. We have fielded problem calls promptly. Code enforcement’s Sgt. Kraul and Rob Walton will tell you they have been getting fewer calls coming to them about cats, and they have witnessed and think highly of the way Field Director Winifred Barber handles irate citizens.
We are doing well with Field Operations, but we need time to build a sustainable financial future. This is a $225,000 a year program, with no frills. We have worked hard at fund raising and have 150+ donors and received $43,300 in grants but this has not been enough to pay for the work we do. When we have run out of money, our Board has reached into our own pockets, to make up the shortfall, but this won’t continue.
The Park Ave. Memorial Park gives residents an opportunity to memorialize a loved one in a tasteful way, while helping support a wholly town serving program. Island Cats is solving a Town problem. If allowing us this fundraising opportunity sets a precedent then it is a wonderful precedent. How many non-profit organizations do you think will want to tackle a project of this scale? How many new parks are created where it could be applied? This is our primary fund raiser for the year. We anticipate a minimum of $150,000 income from this project which will help us balance our budget. If you deny us this opportunity you quite frankly will put us out of business. All successful groups like ours get municipal funds. I realize that won’t happen here. Please at least allow us to do this fund raiser and give us time to motivate the Town’s many animal lovers to help Palm Beach’s homeless cats.
PALM BEACH DAILY NEWS COVERAGE OF REFUSAL
http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/content/news/2010/01/12/catsreject.html
RESPONSE
Island Cats got to make its case for the Memorial Park at the Jan. 12th Town Council Meeting and came up short in the three to two vote. The project has been in the works for months and we felt it was the answer to our financial struggle. Island Cats and the Town department head who worked with us, thought the Council would have no problem with this fundraiser. That was our mistake and demonstrates the problem with making an assumption.
The important thing to remember here is that Island Cats’ performance got rave reviews from the Council and we look forward to their future help in improving our fund raising program.
The bottom line is that Island Cats must not fail, because of the problem of cat over population that would ensue and because there must be an entity to respond to residents’ cat problems.
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Dedicated to the welfare of homeless cats
and preventing future generations