Tea with Bean (and Wylla)!!!!

This weekend we had the pleasure of hosting Tea with Bean (and Wylla), our annual fundraising  luncheon.  Marianne was the high bidder on this auction, and she invited her friend/former coworker Naomi to join her.  They traveled from Mount Vernon and Everett, WA to dine with us. Both cities are north of Seattle.


Charlene and Wylla were waiting in the living room when our guests arrived.

 

 Mariane quickly won Wylla over with a gift she brought. Wylla loves all things on strings, so this cheeseburger toy was a big hit.

 

We spent a little time playing with the big cats, then sat down  to eat. The table "centerpiece" was an assembly of several of the pieces used on this year's fundraising set.





 I put together a little package of IBKC magnets and pins for each of our guests, and added a tiny telephone to each bow. Each setting had a kitten place card.





 The menu was colorful and vegetarian.

 

 We had a watermelon, feta and arugula salad with a balsamic dressing.



 A savory Mexican pepper casserole.



Deviled eggs.



 Quinoa, sweet potato, kale, and cotija cheese tamales.



 Cornbread with honey butter.

 

 And Craig made some very delicious guacamole.



 We had a lovely time getting to know our guests over lunch. We learned about Marianne's cats and the "Catopia" she created in her condo.  Naomi is currently without cats, but she's recently retired, and plans to add a cat or two soon.

When we were done eating and chatting, we headed in to meet the Mittenflosses, who were just waking up from a little nap.

 



 The kittens were happy to meet our new friends and felt quite comfortable in their hands and laps.

 

 We headed over to the shelter next, and met up with our tour guide, Marguerite. We started in the foster room, and got to meet some really adorable babies.

 

There was one teeny-tiny in the neonate area. Lucky for us, it was lunch time, so we got to watch Ruth feed the wee girl. What a treat!



Next stop was the ringworm room. Thanks to your generous donations, the HS was able to complete the "Fungal Bungalow" and are it's currently full of cats and kittens getting treated for ringworm.



Of course we didn't go inside, but we were able to peek in the windows and see the lovely space.



We stopped in the cattery next and met some beautiful stray cats who were waiting for the families to come get them.



There were many beautiful cats and kittens there too, who were available for adoption.





Recognize that kitty on the right?



We visited the pet pantry and were happy to see that the shelves were packed full of food.



One of the highlights of the tour was meeting this sweet boy, Rudy, who's being fostered by a staff member.  He's a charmer and is loved by all.



After we were done touring the shelter, we stepped out into the parking lot and took a photo next to the HS van because you-know-who adorns the side of it. That's Marianne on the left and Naomi on the right.



We returned home and shared some chocolate desserts. I'm not a baker, so these beautiful treats came from a local bakery. Yum.



And then, a little more time with Bart and Fielding.  They were delightful, of course.  We see little kittens all the time, but I know most people don't. It's always sweet to see people experience kittens and watch them react to their adorableness.  





When we wrapped up the afternoon, Wylla was too distracted by all of her new toys to properly say goodbye to our guests.



It was a really lovely day, and we sure did enjoy meeting our guests. Thank you so much for generosity, Marianne! We appreciate your support and I'm glad you had the opportunity to tour the shelter and see how your donation helps.  Thank you, too, for the kitty toys. Charlene and Wylla are both enjoying them!

It was so nice meeting both of you!  Thank you for the wonderful visit, Marianne and Naomi!

$159,096!! Woot, Woot and Thank YOU!

It took a long time to count up all those squillions, and I am beyond thrilled to announce that this awesome, big-hearted, cat-loving community of ours raised a remarkable $159,096 for the homeless cats and kittens this year! We still might have a little more trickling in, so it could rise a wee bit more. The whole event raised $300,155 and it makes me very proud that over half of that came from the IBKC Community!

 We received over a thousand donations from all corners of the world. These donations came from 11 different country and 46 states.  We saw many familiar names in our lengthy list of donors and many new ones, too.

I have to tell you, I was a little nervous going into it this year. Our goal was pretty big and we only had 17 days to meet it, which is half the normal length of our fundraiser.  I asked a tremendous amount of  you, scheduled some really huge matches for us to meet, and you got us there!  And then some!  I honestly don't know why I wasted a single second worrying -  you all never disappoint. I should know this by now.

Thank you for every single penny, dollar and squillion you gave. With this huge sum we brought in, we are providing the Humane Society with the resources to fund many wonderful programs and projects. I am so happy for the cats and kittens that will benefit from this. I'm happy for the shelter staff and volunteers who will put these funds to action and because of their devotion and hard work, will be able to witness many positive changes happen for the kittens and cats.  I am happy for us knowing we played a part in all of it.

Thank you for caring and giving so much. $159,096 is huge and I am mighty proud of our community.  Your kindness and generosity is inspiring!  I know there are many organizations out there doing incredible work for cats and kittens - we appreciate the fact that you selected ours to support. Thank you for believing in us and the mission of the shelter.

 And thank you to everyone for tolerating this long two weeks of me asking for support.  I know it's got to get a bit exhausting at times seeing all of those pleas in your Facebook and Twitter feeds,  and in my blog posts, too. I tried to provide some entertainment in the mix,  but still, there were times when I know I saturated your feed with maybe too many requests for donations - especially when we were getting close to meeting a match. Thank you for understanding and not "unfollowing" us during this time.

I would like to take a moment to thank some very special folks who contributed in big ways to the success of our fundraiser.  

Craig: Thank you for tolerating the madness once again.  I know I get distracted by this annual event and let many things in life slide during this stretch. Thank you for not complaining and always being supportive. Thank you for listening to me talk about it all the dang time. Thank you, too, for making the beautiful painting of Charlene for our auction.

Marguerite: Thank for always being available and so willing to help. I appreciate the many photos, stories and stats you shared with me. You made my work easier, and all you contributed to this fundraiser helped bring in many donations.

Team Members Shana and Sarah:
Thanks for working hard and bring in lots!  You both raised your goals and exceeding them, too! Way to go!

Opal, Ellis and Lola:
Thank you for working hard to raise money for the kitties. Seeing such young people giving so much is inspiring to many. Keep it up, kiddos. You're special and we love you and your big hearts.


All our human, feline, and canine friends who walked the walk: Craig, Shana, Jim, Blixa, Sarah,  Bob, Allie, Lynn, Alex,  Ruth, Stephenee, Kathleen, Hannah, Lisa, and Wylla.

Christy of Libertine Tacoma and Mackenzie of Pepper Pot Polish:
Thank you for generously donating a portion of your sales of your awesome products to support the kitties!


Our auction winners: Thank you for your generous winning bids!

Lynn and Alex, Rosemary, Gerard,  Beth and Michael, Lisa and Stuart: Thank you for offering up wonderful matches and inspiring folks to give!

Mary H: Thank you for offering up the kitty bed match and stitching up all the beds for the shelter cats!

iPop; Thank you for donating the magnet sets for us to give away!

Awesome Anonymous Donors and Anonymous Lover of Kittens: Thank you for the many huge matches. I will do the rest of my thanking of you in private, because I respect your wish to remain anonymous, but I will say publicly, that you are truly awesome and we wouldn't have met our crazy goal if not for your generous matches.

And last, but certainly not least, dear Cynthia:
We appreciate you and your huge heart so much. The way you give is beautiful, generous and inspiring in so many ways. Thank you for the many matches you offered. Without your support, we would have fallen far, far, far from our goal. You're our patron saint, and we love you.

It is impossible to adequately thank all of you because what you've given is so  huge. Please know that I appreciate you more than I could ever express.  This community is amazing and unlike any other.  You are good, good people and I hope your hearts feel as full as mine does right now.

Now, let's take a look at the numbers:

We had days designated to fund some of our favorite programs and projects. These are the amounts we raised for each:
Foster Program - $15,455
Senior Cats - $15,545
Special Needs Cats - $14,121
Barn Cats and Backyard Buddies - $17,942
Kitty Meals-On-Wheels and Pet Food Bank - $14,103
Ring Worm Room - $15,679

Here's how we raised that huge amount: 

Team IBKC Firstgiving donations:
Laurie -  $148,930
Sarah -  $2,300
Shana -  $1,670

Auctions: $6206
Paypal Donations: $25

For a total of $159,096


And here are our totals over the years: 

2009 = $23,000
2010 = $48,000
2011 = $66,000
2012 = $87,000
2013 = $117,190
2014 = $131,890
2015 = $159,096

For a very grand total of
$632,176

And our prize winners: 
Signed copy of the IBKC Book -  Lori Miller of VT
IBKC POSTERS -  Emily-Mary Brown and Cheryl Krum
Magnet Sets -
Lise Hedegaard
Mari Gadberry
Amy Vreeland
Michael Unser

To our winners, please email us and let us know where we should ship your prizes!

That's it for today, friends. I'll be back tomorrow with more adorable Hollis Girls and we'll see what happens when we set them loose to breakdown the set!

Walking the Walk!

If your ears were burning Saturday morning, it was because we were talking about you and how fabulous you are.  Everyone was pretty impressed with this community of ours and all that money we raised together! Shelter staff was absolutely GIDDY about it. I still am too, and kind of can't believe that given the number of days we had to make it happen, we hit that goal and then some!

We still have some money trickling in too, and a small auction that will start today. Also, I usually put up a button so you can donate via Paypal, which some of you prefer, but I totally forgot to do that earlier.  I just put it up this morning and it will be up there for a couple of days, if you would like to make a donation this way.  When you make a donation through Paypal, it won't be reflected in the Firstgivng total, but it will counted when I tally everything up.



The weather was slightly overcast and not too hot, which was pretty perfect weather for the event. The turnout was great. There were thousands of humans and dogs, and two cats.

Wylla got a little fussy in the car on the way to the park, which made worry that she would do the same at Dog-A-Thon, but really, she did really great.

When we first got there, we got out of the car and gave her a moment to soak it all in before entering Dog Central.



We walked around with Wylla riding on Craig's shoulders, and checked out the vendors first. Wylla remained calm as we navigated through the sea of dogs. We heard "Is that a cat?" many, many times.

This cute little guy stopped to take her photo.






 We stopped at the Pet Doctor's booth and Wylla charmed the staff. They were trimming nails and collecting donations for the shelter, so we took advantage of this.  They were impressed with how calm she was - I was too! There she was in a booth in the middle of all this madness, with giant dogs just a few feet away,  getting her nails trimmed by strangers.  That cat is unflappable!



We stopped by the Northwest Spay and Neuter Center booth to say hello to our friends Cora and Ninja Bob.

Bob was too busy to say hello.



But when we stopped by later,  he was available for his fans.



He had just finished winning the costume contest and wanted everyone to see his medal.  We didn't want to burst his bubble, but he WAS the only cat that entered.  He dressed as a shark.



Cora had made some cute cat crafts and was selling them to raise funds for the center.



I love her kitty cozies!



We walked with a pretty large group this year. We were joined by several staff members, volunteers, friends, and the IBKC FUNdraising team.  I think there were at least a dozen in our pack.





Blixa joined us again this year with her humans, Jim and Shana.



And Zelda (Zoubi) Lamm's mom and dad joined us too!  Here's mama Lynn carrying Wylla.  She LOVES Wylla and gets so happy she gets teary when she has a chance  to hold her.  Wylla is always comfortable in her arms.








And of course there were dogs of all shapes, sizes, colors, patterns and breeds  on the walk.






We stayed for a few hours, and when Wylla was ready to go, we left.

 "I have had my fill of dogs for the day, let's move on."




We walked proud because of you!  Thank you for contributing to this special day!


I'll be back to let you know when our last little auction goes up today.  Tomorrow, I'll be revealing our totals, giving away prizes and sharing a big, gushing thank you note to you and some very special people.  

The Victory Lap

Today's the big day! We'll be meeting up at Dog-A-Thon at 10:30 this morning to walk the big walk. If you're in the area, please come and join us!

We'll be walking proud as we take this victory lap because this community of ours worked hard and raised a TON for our homeless cats and kittens. I've been crunching numbers and looking at stats and I'm excited to share this information with you on Monday.

Did you happen to notice where we are with our online donations? Did you see how close we are to $150,000?  If you want to see us roll past that, the Firstgiving page remains active a while.

As fun as all this has been, we're kind of looking forward to getting back to normal around here. It's been an exhausting couple of weeks!



 I feel like I haven't been giving the big cats as much attention as I normally do. Outings on the deck and play sessions have been getting cut short.  I'm feeling guilty about this, but they seem to understand. Usually they act out and start doing naughty things when I get distracted with projects.  They've been very patient and good - they must have realized this was important and worthy of my attention.

It's time for me to get myself ready to go, and pack Wylla's travel bag, too.  We hope we'll see you out there! And if you're not there, I know you are ALL walking with us n spirit!

Thank you for contributing to this big victory of ours!