Cat Cafe Organizers Launch Indiegogo Fundraiser To Find “A Cat’s Meow” A Permanent Home

If you’ve been enjoying A Cat’s Meow, Fort Greene’s pop-up cat cafe at 354 Myrtle Avenue, and wish that it would stay permanently, here’s your chance! Through Thanksgiving, part of the team behind the current cafe — the Brooklyn Bridge Animal Welfare Coalition (BBAWC) — is holding a fundraising campaign on Indiegogo to raise the funds necessary to find and rent a space for at least the first six months.

The goal amount is $157,500, which covers the first six months of rent, renovation fees, and Indiegogo fees, states BBAWC President and Cat’s Meow manager Anne Levin. “Based on the great reception of our pop-up Cat Café, we would expect the space to be self sufficient once up and running, and even bring in some extra money for rescuing additional cats,” she wrotes on the Indiegogo page.

So far, $1,099 has been raised in two days, and donors can receive perks according to how much they donate. You can name a rescue cat or receive a cat cafe cat calendar for $25, get a cafe T-shirt (choose between “Keep Calm and Cuddle Cats” and “My Favorite Breed Is A Rescue) for $30 (or both for $50), and one month or more of free access to the cafe for you and a friend for $100 and up.

The mission of the permanent cat cafe will be:

1.  A nonprofit Cat Café where  the community can come spend time playing and cuddling with cats.

2.  An adoption center to keep cats off the streets and out of the shelters.  Finding foster homes for rescued cats is difficult. The Cat Café will be a space where rescued cats can live while they await forever homes. Sure beats cages!

3.  A community resource center providing  services to help people help animals:

• Resources for animal rescuers: In New York City independent animal rescuers  spend thousands of dollars of their own money rescuing and caring for companion animals while working full time jobs. A Cat Meows will offer veterinary clinics in the evenings with low cost vaccines and veterinary exams for animal rescuers.
• Resources for owners to keep pets in homes:  We will offer pet owners low cost vaccines and veterinary exams, as well as workshops on medical and behavior issues where pet owners can address questions to a veterinarian.
• Humane education:  Classes for young people and the community to learn the value of caring for urban animals both wild and domesticated, and to teach responsible pet ownership.
• TNR Resources – Trap-Neuter-Release, or TNR, is a proven humane and effective method to reduce the population of unadoptable, outdoor community cats. At A Cat Meows in Brooklyn we want to provide space for TNR certification workshops and much needed holding space for TNR projects in Brooklyn.