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St. Patrick's Day is Over! But You're in time for...
SAINT CATRICK'S DAY!!
You know the story of St. Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland with a stick, of course... but do you know the story of St. Catrick?
Saint Catrick drove the cats... out of the shelter! With a car. YOU TOO can be a St. Catrick...
An extremely important element of rescue is transport. Getting the cats from shelters to FFGW, from shelter transports to our vets, from the vets to fosters... it's just one of the very important roles that volunteers play in the path from at-risk in shelters to at-home with a loving family.
Some trips can be long, many are short - just a quick run from the vet to a foster, or or from a shelter transport ending locally to one of our vets.
In this Newsletter, we're featuring several exceptional volunteers , driving cats sometimes long distances or all of the time, but however much time and distance you can donate, we can use your help!
If you can help with this crucial part of rescue, we would love to have you join our St. Catrick team - we'll put you on our email distribution list and whenever you're able to respond to a request, you can join in driving the cats - to rescue, and be one of our St. Catricks!
You don't even have to be a Calico with a Purple Mustang!
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| | St. Catrick - Martha Reitman! |
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Martha began volunteering for FFGW almost 20 years ago, when she and her husband answered an ad in the newspaper looking for fosters. Martha's family had fostered dogs and children previously, so we guess cats were the logical next step!
Most recently, Martha has been making a 2 1/2 hour run from NOVA to Frostburg, Maryland, to meet a woman who transports cats and kittens from two further out rural shelters. The run can take Martha 6 to 7 hours, with a drop off at our vet - a little kitty told us that Martha's reward for such a long drive is an Impossible Burger in Frostburg!
Above is Martha with her fosters in 2015 at a specialty vet with a litter of kittens with entropion, an eye condition where their eyelids fold in and it damages their corneas resulting in impared vision. As part of FFGW's committment to provide whatever medical treatment becomes necessary for cats in our care, the kittens were seeing the eye specialist in preparation for surgery to correct the condition. That's Bija on her shoulder... |
| ...and here's Martha last week...
It seems that once on her shoulder, Bija never left!
Martha has filled many roles at FFGW, from fostering pregnant cats and helping with the birthing of kittens to providing "fospice" for a senior cat adopted from FFGW many years prior, when her person could no longer care for her.
Martha also provides temporary stop over fostering for cats who need a place to rest their paws before seeing our vets and becoming ready for adoption.
Martha tells us that she has always been drawn to help animals in need, and we are incredibly grateful to have Martha on our St. Catrick team of transporters, and grateful for everything else she does for us! |
| | St. Catrick - Grace White |
| Grace came to FFGW a little more than 10 years ago, when looking for a companion for her cat, she fostered two kitties... and adopted them both! When she retired from federal service a few years later, she found that she had time to do transports... and was less likely to adopt all the FFGW cats she saw!
Grace responds to so many of our transport requests, she does a little bit of everything! Grace came to FFGW a little over 10 years ago, as a foster and an adopter... of several of her foster kittens!
When she retired a few years later, she had some extra time on her hands and tell us that "I realized I had the time to do transports and that I was unlikely to adopt them if I was just transporting them - unlike when I fostered them!!"
Grace does all sorts of transports, meeting vans with cats and kittens rescued from high-kill shelters, and taking foster cats to and from our vets when the fosters are unable. Telling you that Grace is super dedicated, without telling you Grace is super dedicated, in her own words, "In October of 2020, I volunteered to drive over to Frostburg, MD to pick up cats from a shelter and transport them to the Leesburg veterinary office for vet checks before going on to foster homes. The weather was miserable - rainy, foggy and cold. I was sometimes driving back roads around the mountains, my CD player wasn’t working and, of course, radio stations were unreliable. I was singing to myself and the kitties to entertain myself a good part of the time!!"
Grace says that her most memorable experience volunteering with FFGW happened in August of 2020 when she was walking for exercise near Potomac Mills mall. She spotted three kittens sunning themselves on a storm drain - two very young, and a third larger kitten with them - perhaps the mom, perhaps an older sibling. Grace says, "I could not walk away from them - it seemed to me that they very intentionally allowed me to see them (they disappeared into the storm drain very quickly for anyone else)." With the help of a couple of other people in her area who devote their lives to TNR work, she was able to trap all three. She tells us that the older one was very feral and clearly not a candidate for attempting to socialize. She was spayed, vaccinated, ear tipped, etc. and released back to the mall area. The two younger ones spent 2 months in Grace's sunroom, where she would often would sing to them and always kept classical music on for them. FFGW accepted them for adoption candidates, and Buster and Suscipe (part of the latin phrase for “receive our prayer”) we found their forever home not long after the first of the year in 2021. Grace tell us that the kittens she rescued from the street "brought so much joy to me during the pandemic working to gain their trust and I am forever grateful to FFGW for sponsoring them for adoption!!"
Grace, we're so very glad that we were able to help you bring these two souls off the street and into a loving home. As you'll see with our Quincy update below, that is only possible through the generous support of our donors, and of course incredible help and dedication of volunteers like you! |
| | | St Catrick - Claire Todaro
To say that Claire was a "transporter" would be to miss so many of the things she does for FFGW!
Claire joined FFGW in 2014, after managing a PetSmart in-store adoption center for another rescue, a full-time but volunteer job - and she hasn't slowed down since!
Claire working hard at the yard sale!
Claire fosters for FFGW, and assists with the weekly Sunday adoption event at the Leesburg PetSmart, for many years has organized and hosted the annual FFGW yard sale, an important money raising event - and she also fosters... oh, and she helps with transports! One focus of FFGW is assisting a partner rescue in far southwestern Virginia which rescue pulls cats from an extremely high-kill shelter. Each week, several rescues band together to transport saved cats the 5-hour trip to Chantilly in Northern Virginia, and Claire usually meets that transport, receives the cats destined for FFGW, and takes them to one of our partner vets - a critical link in that life-saving transport. We are extremely grateful! |
| | You Too Can Be Saint Catrick!
Just reply to this email to join our team of transporters...
The kitties will be forever thankful that you drove them out of shelters! |
| | | Quincy Update!
In February, we posted on the FFGW Facebook Page asking for donations so we could bring Quincy and as many of his shelter buddies as possible to safety, and our Facebook family responded in a big way. We are happy to share that we were able to take in 18 cats from 2 shelters because of your help!!
And Quincy? He's no longer cowering in his litter box... he's now SVEN! and in his forever home. |
| | Sven's pople tell us he "has adjusted well in his new home. He is loving, energetic and playful. We can’t imagine our family without him!"
That is the difference your support makes!
And remember - you can get timely updates on our rescues, and lots of kitty pictures, on our social media pages! |
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Check Us Meowt! On Social Media!
Facebook, Insta, Twitter?
We try not to overflow your email inbox, and most months send just one Newsletter with a deep dive into all that's going on at FFGW, and some fun cat-centric stuff - but you can find out all the rescue happenings closer to real time on our social media! (And of course... see a lot more cute kitty pictures!)
Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter below!
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| | | Save The Date! May 21 Noon - 2 p.m. We're back at the Kendra Scott Store in the Mosaic Center, Merrifield!
Cats for adoption, fun treats, and cat jewelery A portion of the proceeds will benefit FFGW!
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Shop & Rescue!
You can shop and also help FFGW at the same time, by making your Amazon purchases through our "smile" link!
Use the button on the left for anything Amazon, select the Feline Foundation of Greater Washington as your designated charity. Your price doesn't change but a percentage of your purchase goes to FFGW!
In 2021 we received over $1000 through the Smile program, which donations were enough to provide 3-4 spays or 5-6 neuters - for an entire litter of kittens!
Thank you!
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I Feel Like Something Chewy!
Actually, not that chewy, but "Chewy"!
www.chewy.com is a pet product company specializing in home delivery of all things pet-related. FFGW has a "wish list" which you can find here:
Any products you select from our wish list will be delivered directly to us for use at our adoption center at PetSmart and by our fosters!
If you're new to Chewy, we'll even get a gift certificate for bringing in a new purchaser. It's a great way to help us in our mission to help the kitties!
Thanks to everyone who has donated food, treats, litter, beds, toys... Chewy's platform doesn't allow us to see the names of our generous donors, but please know that your support is very much appreciated! And if you drop us a line and let us know when you donate something, we'll be more than happy to send our thanks!
This post contains affilliate links. FFGW may be compensated if you buy something after clicking on these links. |
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Adoption Fairs
Leesburg Weekly Fair
Leesburg PetSmart - Every Sunday Noon - 3 pm
Next Event: Sunday April 3
--Midweek Adoptions by Appointment for Cats in the Center--
We need volunteers to help care for the cats at Leesburg! Contact Brittany@ffgw.org
Looking for a new cat for your family? Get pre-approved for adoption by filling out an adoption form online today.)
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| | We've Gone Home!
Adopted in February (32):
Two Socks, Precious, Sax, Miss Olivia, Cerise, Smirnoff, Carmelita, Anubis, Mia, Agata, Fiona, Maren, Miss Mittens, Butterscotch, Buttercup, Farrah, Rhonda, Callie, Luna 4, Houston, Evie, Ivy, Willow, Smokey, Tonks, Marlene, Luna 6, Orio, Sushi, Minnie, Kerry & Mischa
KERRY
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