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My assignment this month should be to write about our recent Frosty Claws fundraiser – it WAS a fabulous event! But I would like to write about much more, about how connected we all are and how the feral cats are bringing us together.
For example, at Frosty Claws, people who had not seen each other for possibly years were able to reunite and discover what each other had been doing during the time that had passed. They were both in the Rescue world, care very much about animals, but had let this personal relationship slide. We were very happy to offer the space and time that let that relationship continue.
New relationships were formed as people were introduced due to their common interests and backgrounds. So many learned new information about trapping, caring for ferals, and what was happening in cat rescue.
We learned about new colonies that need to be TNR’d, how colonies that we had already taken care of were doing. We learned that caretakers whom we had taught to trap had gone on and taught others.
One attendee, hearing the music we were playing at the event, has now connected us to one of the artists who will be performing at a fundraiser for us this summer. How cool is that!
It isn’t only an event like Frosty Claws that builds our future and the future of TNR in DuPage County.
Something as simple as putting our information on a Christmas tree in the town square, someone takes that info and invites us to participate in an event the next Fall. In the process we find out that the town hosting that event may be receptive to adopting TNR. How cool is that!
We help a caretaker who invites us to participate in the 4th of July parade, people take our handouts and call us and a whole new batch of cats get TNR’d. How very cool is that!
When we have events, yes, of course, fundraising is one of our goals, but building our connections, increasing our feral cat–loving community, is always our biggest goal, as we cannot continue to grow and reduce the burden of cat overpopulation without the support of all the new people we meet while practicing TNR.
Yes, Frosty Claws was a success in many ways – the food was great, the ambiance was perfect, the fundraising was very fruitful! I think many people were surprised to discover that there was so much to talk about. I hope that this serves as an example of how easy it is to spread the word about feral cats and TNR and that all of the people who attended and all of the people who read this newsletter will continue to make connections and help us to grow Feral Fixers and reduce the number of unwanted cats in DuPage!
Thank you all so much!
(Photo from the 2009 Frosty Claws Gathering - click on it for a larger version)