Holiday fundraiser for NOTL Cats Rescue Not-for-profit could use food, litter, cash donations

Tanya Rice was introduced to NOTL Cats Rescue about seven years ago when her sister Jeanne organized a 50th birthday for her.

Both women were cat lovers, and when Jeanne learned about the organization during a visit to Pet Valu in Virgil, she decided to ask for donations to NOTL Cats Rescue at the birthday party instead of gifts.

Rice, who has become one of the organization’s committed volunteers, has since assisted with annual fundraisers to help to fulfill its mission: to shelter, nurture and socialize abandoned and homeless cats in a loving, home-like environment until they can be adopted to their forever homes.

Rice recently lost her dear younger sister, a St. Catharines wife and mother just 52 years old who suffered from multiple sclerosis. Jeanne died at home, surrounded by her family, on Remembrance Day, says Rice. It’s been a very difficult and emotional time — they lost their father last year, and had their first Christmas without him, and now the family must face Christmas without Jeanne, who loved the holiday.

When Rice first learned about NOTL Cats Rescue about eight years ago, she decided to turn a family Christmas tradition into an event to raise money for the organization. She and her husband Peter typically held a post-Candlelight Stroll open house at their home, and since they were providing refreshments for their friends, they asked for something in return — a donation to the cat rescue organization she supports. But once the pandemic cancelled the stroll, she looked for other ways to fundraise.

Rice says she was accustomed to making Christmas planters for friends and family, and her husband and sister would joke that she should be charging for them. “I said I couldn’t charge family, but I can charge strangers, for a good cause.”

So that’s what she decided to do. She held a fundraiser of planters last spring, and has decided to go ahead with her plans for this holiday season, in memory of Jeanne.

When her sister’s MS was progressing, Rice says she took some time off work so they could spend a lot of time together, “doing a lot of sister bonding stuff together. That’s one of the reasons it’s very important to me to keep this going — I wouldn’t even know about cat rescue if it weren’t for her.”

With her mother Joyce Ruish and friends Lesley Prantera, Carolyn Greenfield and Sabine Barry, she has made holiday planters and porch gnomes to fill her garage leading up to three sale dates at her home at 456 Line 2 behind Crossroads School: Saturday, Nov. 26, Saturday, Dec. 3 and Sunday, Dec. 4, from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. each day.

Rice gives a shout-out to Phil’s Your Independent Grocer for the donation of 20 bags of soil, which saved on expenses making the planters.

Rice has also been fostering cats and kittens — NOTL Cats Rescue can never find enough foster families — and she is currently caring for Tessa and Toby, six-month-old bonded siblings, spayed and neutered, vaccinated and microchipped, and looking for a home.

“Adoptions have been down post-pandemic,” she says. “People are back to living their lives and travelling.”

NOTL Cats Rescue has 25 kittens and cats for adoption this winter — a lot of mouths to feed, says Rice. Anyone interested in fostering them, so important for socializing before they’re adopted, will be supplied with everything that is needed: litter, food and toys.

“If there is someone who has room in their home and an open heart to love them, it doesn’t have to be forever, and if you want to go away while you’re fostering, someone will take them for you,” says Rice.

Donations of food, litter, and money of course are always greatly appreciated.

Due to dietary restrictions for some cats, Rice says Performatrin kitten and adult kibble, and Fancy Feast canned food are preferred.

Also important to the cat rescue is any opportunity for education: get your pets spayed or neutered, “and microchipping is so important.”

NOTL Cats Rescue also encourages people who have stray cats outside around their homes to provide shelters for the winter, and water — she has a heated water bowl she was given to prevent water from freezing — and she suggests putting a little bit of sugar in the water for extra nutrients.

NOTL Cats Rescue will supply a cat shelter if they have one available, or instructions on how to make one. “Always use straw inside a shelter, not a blanket,” adds Rice.

For more information visit https://notlcats.weebly.com/