BLASDELL, N.Y. (WKBW) — Ten Lives Club has been fundraising to rescue feline friends for almost 20 years. But because of the COVID-19 pandemic, they have had to cancel 10 events this year, losing about $85,000. While less money is coming in, the rescue has still been able to take in more than 2,200 cats since January 1st. 2,000 of those cats have been adopted.
"Now we’re doing everything virtual or whatever we can in this warehouse. Whatever we can sell to make us a little bit of money," Marie Edwards, president and founder of Ten Lives Club said.
One of the organization's biggest fundraising events is their wreath sale. They have partnered with Angle Acres in Orchard Park for 16 years.
"This is one of our biggest fundraisers. It’s probably the third biggest fundraiser we have. Unfortunately what you see here may look big scale but it’s actually low scale. We normally have vendors and a packed house with a few hundred people. We normally serve food and there’s a cash bar, but all of that went away," Edwards said.
While the cash flow has slowed, the work hasn't.
"Today in our shelter we have a spay and neuter clinic going on. We usually hold them probably twice a month. We have a vet in there with vet staff, technicians and everything and a lot of volunteers. We’re doing feral cats today," Edwards said.
They're hoping "Giving Tuesday" will help them out.
"We’re counting on that money to keep us going. We have a small paid staff and then we have expenses. We don’t own a store or work out of somebody’s home or anything. We own the shelter," Edwards said.
It's a lot of hard work so the shelter can continue to find cats homes.
