As many of you know, Gerri Beirnes passed away at the end of May. She has run a cat sanctuary for years on her own, and now the cats need our help. Friends and family are taking care of them and are also in the process of finding forever homes or foster homes for them. This is a HUGE task, as you can imagine.

I think a lot of people would love to help out and I’d like to coordinate a food drive and fundraiser. The cats’ needs are mostly food, vet care and medication, and I’ve asked Judy Wilson, a friend of Gerri's's and part of the cats' caregivers, for a list of things they need. I can pick the food up from anyone in east Toronto to Durham and give it to Judy who goes out to Grimsby once a week to help. Here is what they need:

Gift cards. They can be Mastercard, Visa or to any grocery stores, Canadian Tire (they sell cat food) PetSmart etc.

As I’m typing this I think it would be great if we could get gift cards to gas stations for Judy since it’s such a long weekly drive for her. When she goes out there she is generally on the road 2 hours each way and must be spending a fortune on gas.

Food: They eat Friskies the most. Pate is the most popular though some of the shreds like turkey and cheese are popular too. They also like Fancy Feast. And just 4 cups of Meow Mix per day. Temptations and the Purina Friskies treats are popular. Also, Dollarama has large cans of Pet Select cat food that they love...the ones that are a dollar, not the $1.50 ones which are organic. Purina Complete Cat Chow is good, Kirkland from Costco and pretty much any other kibble. They generally mix a few up.

There is currently a Go Fund Me set up for Gerri. Originally, it was set up to raise money for a drug to treat her tumour that wasn’t covered in Ontario, but it’s now being used for the cats. If you would like to donate through it, here is the link:

https://www.gofundme.com/Support-for-Gerris-family

To avoid the percentage that Go Fund Me takes, you can also send donations to Judy via etransfer and PayPal to judithawilson@hotmail.com and she will get them to CCC. She can also provide her address if someone wants to mail a cheque.

To stay up to date with the cats, please “like” the page on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Catty-Cat-Catuary-110387439050464/

If you are thinking of adopting or fostering, let me know and I’ll pass the message on to Judy. If you can help in any way, please let me know. If you can share this, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading. Lee