Woman ran Chicago marathon (3:31) and rescued and rehomed a kitten at the same time!

This is a great little story on Facebook. A Boston resident, Sarah Bohan, was a participant in Chicago's marathon. She was running the charity for PAWS Chicago. This is one of the largest no-kill animal welfare organisations in America. There were 482 runners on the team running for PAWS. A wonderful effort.

Sarah Bohan rescues stray kitten during Chicago marathon. Image: FB.

That would have been great by itself but Sarah went a lot further. She was on a personal best time when she noticed a scared and dirty kitten under a bridge at the 21-mile mark. She was not that far from the finish line really.

This is what she said.

"I saw this white fluffy thing scurrying under a bridge and recognized it as a dirty, scared cat that was obviously a stray separated from its mother. At that point, my personal record was out the window and I knew what I had to do."

She rescued the kitten and then walked for about a mile asking spectators if they would take the kitten that she'd rescued and rehome her. She found a woman who is a cat caregiver who promised her that she would rehome the kitten. Or perhaps she's taken the kitten in. The picture above shows the moment of handover.

Then Sarah continued her race and finished in an impressive 3:31:35, which is a good time.

Sarah did an amazing job. The only question I have is that we have to hope that the woman who took the kitten is the right one meaning she is genuine and will do a good job in either looking after the kitten or rehoming her. She looks genuine to me. Well done, Sarah.

The kitten has a Turkish Van coat for anyone who's interested. A very Mediterranean appearance.

Here is the Facebook post:

Imaginative Humane Society fundraiser goes viral

The Animal Friends and Humane Society, in Hamilton, Ohio have come up with an imaginative fundraiser on their Facebook page. They are asking visitors to provide them with the name of an ex-partner who they believe behave badly towards them. That name will go onto the base of a litter box and the litter box will be used for the rescue cats in their care.

Humane Society fundraiser goes viral on news media. Image: MikeB

They are accepting donations between February 1-12 and on their Facebook page there are instructions on how to make the donation. It is via an American mobile payment service called Venmo which is owned by PayPal.

There is a QR code on their Facebook page which you can scan using your smartphone or "search the Charity @AFHStreasurer2011." Your chance to kill 'two birds with one stone' to use an appropriate saying. You can clear your conscience of that pesky relationship that you had which bugs you and you can do some good for animal welfare.

Brilliant fundraising program for American cat rescue organisations

MARCO ISLAND, FLORIDA, USA - NEWS AND COMMENT: A cat rescue organisation whose mission is to end the cruelty of pet overpopulation, For the Love of Cats, has a cool program which I think is a very clever idea and a win-win for all parties concerned. They call it the "Puss in Boots" fundraiser. They collect shoes that women no longer want. Sometimes these are brand-new and unused and they are at least in good condition.

Brilliant fundraising program for any American cat rescue organisation. Photo: For the Love of Cats.

They have managed to accumulate 107 bags of shoes with 25 pairs of shoes per bag for a grand total of 2,675 pairs of shoes. They are picked up by a partner group and the first bag is given free and then subsequently merchants in developing countries such as Haiti and Guatemala purchase additional shoes at a fraction of the normal retail cost. These merchants are able then to sell the shoes on a stall at home. One woman in Haiti has her whole family involved in working on her shoe stall.

Clever commerce

So, the essence of the fundraising program is to collect unwanted shoes which are free to the rescue and then sell them at a very modest price but in large numbers to traders in developing countries where they can make a profit themselves from the sale of the shoes.

The Winners

This helps to rescue and help cats - the first winner. The second winner is the cat rescue organisation and the third are the merchants running stores in developing countries. The fourth winner are the people purchasing the shoes at a modest price and no doubt they get to have shoes that they wouldn't have been able to get hold of normally because they wouldn't be available in shops at home. The fifth winners are the women who are divesting themselves of unwanted shoes. This frees up their wardrobe so they can buy some more! The seventh winners are the local shoe stores :) Ah, there is an eighth; the environment. There will be less landfill. 

It is just a brilliant scheme which has raised $1000 to help the cats of Marco Island and Collier County.

About For the Love of Cats

The vision of For the Love of Cats, as stated on their website, is "a world where all cats' lives matter". They set very high standards, it seems to me, and they put a lot of emphasis on their core values of integrity and commitment. Their work includes TNR programs, assisting people on low incomes and providing emergency veterinary care together with support programs to help people keep their companion animals.

The founders, president and vice-president are Jan Rich and her husband Jim Rich, respectively. They have five staff working for them. I don't know whether they are full-time or not but they are: Ann Daly, Melody Kappauf, Jan Dutmers, Bobbi Conifer and Debbie Lanham. They are based on the west coast of Florida just north of the Everglades.

Source: Marco News and the For the Love of Cats website.