Message Heard!

If you expect us to continue at this pace, we insist your provide us with MORE TREATS.



OK, OK, OK,  it's time for a snack break!  

In the mean time, let's make our donations online!

Click HERE to make a tax-deductible donation and get your dollars doubled in our awesome $2000 matching donation challenge this afternoon.  All the money we raise today goes to the senior cats!

Thank you for contributing to this incredible day!

We're Having a VERY Good Day

Holy Cats!  In less than TWO HOURS we blew past our awesome $3000 matching donation challenge and now there's $6945 in the kitty for the Seniors!

If you  have a second, please visit our FUNdraising page, and look the sweet comments left in honor or memory of so many amazing cats.  It's truly heart-warming.  

We met our match so early in the day, and our enthusiasm is so huge, our awesome anonymous friend is putting another $2000 match on the table to help our senior cats out.   

Just like the first, we've got until 7:00 Pacific Time to meet her generous match. 

This time of year,  when the shelter is full of shiny new kittens,  it can take longer for the Seniors to find their homes.  This fund will help make this beloved population healthier and happier, and ultimately, help them find homes faster.   

On this day, we are making a HUGE difference for these fine cats. 

If you're in a position to help, please consider making a donation today.   Until the $2000 match is met, your donation will be matched dollar-for-dollar, which helps twice as much!  

Thank you for caring so much - you all are incredible.  

And Anonymous,  oh Anonymous, how can we ever thank you enough.   We love you and your huge heart.  

It's Senior Cat Day!

For those of you who've been following the IBKC for awhile, you know all about Drewey,  our sweet old gal who passed away a few years back at the age of eighteen.   For those of you who are new, she's the pretty gray "Embrace Your Inner Crank" girl in the sidebar.

When Drewey passed, several IBKC fans made donations in memory of our girl. This money was made available to the vet staff to use for procedures and tests for senior cats, such as teeth cleanings,  x-rays,  and blood work.   All that we raise today, will go towards this senior cat fund!

We all know how special senior cats are, but often people are shy to adopt them because they worry about medical issues and potentially high vet bills. If the vet staff has the resources to get the senior cats healthier first, this will reduce the chance of a financial burden for the adopter, and will make the seniors  healthier and more "adoptable".  And of course healthier cats are happier cats, and that's a very good thing.

There's a very special anonymous person who has a very soft spot for the senior cats, and was always a huge fan of Drewey . Our anonymous friend is offering up a very awesome and generous $3000 matching donation challenge for our Senior Day.

You all know how this works, for every dollar you donate, she'll match it until we hit our $3000 cap.

This matching donation challenge will run until 7:00 PM Pacific Time - our matcher is on the east coast so we want her to see her match met before it's bedtime -  but every penny we bring in until Midnight tonight, will go to the senior cats.  

If you're planning on donating during our fundraiser, today is a very good day to do it. Your dollars will be doubled if you get in on the challenge and you'll be helping out the seniors too!  

Maybe make a donation in honor of a special senior kitty in your life?   Or the one you said goodbye to that forever holds a place in your heart?

Please click HERE to make a tax-deductible donation today for our very special seniors.

THANK YOU!

Wylla Stout Steps Out

Traveling with Wylla is so easy - she never minds being in the car, in her carrier, on her harness, or being carried around.   She's always calm and never seems to mind meeting new people or having new experiences.   Her feeding routine makes it hard to leave her home alone, so I'm grateful she's so portable.  It makes life easier.

This weekend, we traveled with Wylla to Roslyn, Wa for the Vintage Camper Rally.  We met up with our dear friends Katy and Jerry and had fun touring the trailers, hanging out at their site, and picnicking.  We even walked to downtown Roslyn and did a little antique shopping too. She was such a good little kitten,  she made a really fun trip even more enjoyable.

Here are a few highlights from the day...

Shoulder perching with Craig.



Shoulder perching with Jerry, her new BFF.

Meeting a sweet pooch named "Cowboy".




Having lunch on a makeshift dinette.



Enjoying the warm wind.






Demanding to be picked up.



And chilling in Katy's cool camper.

Live from the IBKC FUNdraising Headquarters - It's Beanies's Turn

WOW!  We had a really incredible start to our fundraiser!   Thanks to all of you, and Cynthia and her awesome matching donation, our first-day total is just a few hundred shy of $7000!  I think we may have set a new record!  I can see by our stats that everyone was checking in all day long.  We were doing the same - it's so exciting to see the total grow.

Wylla did a remarkable job handling the huge call volume yesterday, so we're giving her today off.  Bean has volunteered to cover the phones, and she is ready to take your calls!  

OK, Friends.  I am here for you. 



I am completely dedicated to our cause, and I am sacrificing MANY naps today to be here today to take your calls.  



But I guess I could take a wee nap.  Would anyone really notice?  That couch is looking pretty comfy. I'm sure I would wake up if the phone rang.  



No. No.  I can't.  I am here to help the homeless cats and kittens.  But that couch. So comfy. And this set - it's just a warm fuzzy box. And our friends can always make their tax-deductible donations online....    

Wylla? Can You Get the Phone?

Oh, yes you can!

Our Very First Squillion! And Our Very First Matching Donation Challenge!

Yowza!  We've already cleared our first squillion and we're just getting started!  We've got 12 hours before the day is done, and I think it's time to start our very first matching donation challenge!  

And our dear friend Cynthia is starting us off with an awesome one!  Yep, we've got a $2,500 matching donation challenge on the table!

Until midnight tonight (Pacific Time), Cynthia will be matching our donations,  dollar-for-dollar, until our donations reach the $2500 cap.  

SO, if we meet her challenge, we can turn $2,500 into $5000!!

Here's a great chance to get your dollars doubled, and help make a REALLY excellent first day of FUNdraising.

To double your donation dollars, pop on over to our FUNdraising page, and  make a tax-deductible donation.    Please don't delay - we've got just 12 hours to meet her match!

Thank you, Cynthia!  You're making an awesome day even more awesome!  And thank you to all take advantage of her generous offer!    

Let's Get This Party Started!

On Saturday, July 20th, we'll be participating in Dog-A-Thon, our Humane Society's walk for homeless pets.  

For those of you who are new to the blog, let me tell you, it's a really exciting time of year at the IBKC.  We all work very hard raising funds for our shelter, and we have lots of fun doing it.

Each week, there are lots of extra posts and pictures,  fun things, and many surprises. You'll see the whole IBKC community rise to support our shelter.  You'll witness lots of very kind and generous people in action.  You'll cheer when we meet our  matching donation challenges.  It will make you feel warm and fuzzy and you may cry a few happy tears.  You'll see magic happen.   Your heart will sing.  You will click "refresh" many times.

In the end, we will have raised squillions of dollars to help homeless cats and kittens, and we will walk proudly in the walk. 

The first year we participated in the event, we started off with a modest goal of $3000 and when the fundraiser was over, we had raised $23,000.  The next year, we upped our goal to $40,000, met that goal with our online donations and when we added in the money collected from our other team members, friends, family, and auctions, we had raised over $48,000 for the shelter! Year three we  raised the bar again and set our goal at $50,000 and ended up at over $66,000.  Last year was even more incredible, and we ended up raising over $87,000 for the cats and kittens!!   

This year, we are raising the bar once again and have set our goal at $100,000.  I know that sounds like a tremendous amount, but I have so much faith in our community.
I just know we can do it.  

Our Humane Society  has done some incredible things with the money we've raised.  With our help, they were able to complete the Charlene Butterbean Quarantine room in 2010.  

In 2011, we funded the "Petunia Louise Community Cat Room",  a large, glass-walled enclosure with climbing trees, privacy boxes, and lots of soft places for cats to sleep. Showcasing the cats in this  home-like setting is proving to be very attractive to adopters, and the kitties and cats residing in this room don’t usually stay long! 

Just like previous years, event though the event is called "Dog-A-Thon", all of the money we raise will go directly to the cats and kittens. It will help fund the foster program and in-house and off-site adoption programs. It will help make many shelter improvements for the cats. It will buy cats cozy little fleece beds and other comforting items. It will help reduce the cost of spay and neuter surgeries for cats of lower income families. It will also help fund a  program at the shelter designed specifically to help elderly pet owners on fixed incomes who can’t afford to feed their beloved companions. It will feed and provide medical care for tiny kittens, adult and senior cats. It will help make life better for our amazing shelter cats, while they wait for their forever families to come along.  

This year will be a little different than previous years. We thought we might have a batch of foster kittens to take some calls in our little telethon set this fundraiser, but on many levels, we are not quite ready to bring in another litter. We'll see some foster babies before the season is over, but not before our FUNdraiser ends. 

Wylla and Charlene will do their best to handle the call volume - they tell me they are up for the challenge.  Of course we don't want them to work TOO hard, they need their naps, so I've arranged for some extra-special guests to take a few calls too.   OH, just you wait! 

We'll have another print for sale this year which should be a HUGE crowd-pleaser. They'll be at a lower price point this year, smaller in size too, but just as awesome as the print we sold last year.  All the profits from the print sales goes right to our campaign.  

Of course we'll also be auctioning off the always popular "Tea with the Bean",  your opportunity to have lunch with us at IBKC headquarters.   The tea has been a huge success the past three years, so we just have to do it again!  Wylla's got a special event planned too!   She'll tell you more about that in the weeks to come.   

We will have MANY awesome matching donation challenges, thanks to some really generous folks.  

We'll have days dedicated to some of your favorite causes - like the senior cat medical fund.   

Just you wait, my friends! I've got so much planned for the next month.  There's going to be LOTS of fun and surprises - quite possible the funnest FUNdraiser yet!!!  

   

To make a tax-deductible donation to our campaign or learn more about the event, please visit our First Giving page.

We appreciate ever dollar you give. Every bit helps because when we pool it all together, we can make BIG things happen.



Our shelter has provided us with so many wonderful kittens over the years. These kittens have made us smile, they've brightened many days, they've warmed our hearts.  Here's our chance to give something back  - we can honor all those itty-bitty kitties and say "thanks" by supporting the organization that gave them their start in life - The Humane Society for Tacoma and Pierce County.   

Thank you, friends.  It will be an exciting and emotional month, and I can hardly wait to see how much we can raise and the difference we'll make in the lives of our precious shelter cats and kittens.

100 Squillion!  HERE WE COME!!  

PS I know that not everyone is in a position to make a donation -  you can always help by spreading the word!  Tweet, post and link away!  It doesn't cost a cent, but it helps tremendously!  

And if you want to join the team and raise funds too, shoot me an email and we'll get you set up!