Fans of masterful American composers like Purrving Berlin and Cole Pawter, rejoice! It’s Cat’s Cradle’s Summertime Challenge, featuring songs from the Great A-Meow-ican Songbook. This year, we’re bringing you timeless classics that will chatter and chirp in your ears all summer long.  

While we love to “Cat-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive,” it’s hard to deny how these difficult times have us all shook up. Especially with inflation being sky high, we’re mewling over our budget! 

Over the past few months at Cat’s Cradle, we’ve seen the cost of spay/neuter surgeries, food, and other supplies shoot way up, making kitty care pricier than ever. Furthermore, gas is astronomical; running our vans for TNR and foster transportation has become seriously expensive. We’ve also incurred hefty expenses at the Downtown Center because we are having to make significant improvements to the venting and cooling system. As they say in the Songbook, “There’s No Business Like Cat Business,” yet these expenditures make it harder to “go on with the show”!    

This year’s Summertime Challenge comes at a crucial time as we look to offset these financial difficulties and shore up program funding through the Fall. Our adoption, medical assistance, TNR, and pet retention programs are mostly funded through the generosity of our supporters, so don’t forget that there would be no Cat’s Cradle without your donations! 

As a show of continued confidence in our work, we’ve once again received $50,000 matching money from a soulful, selfless benefactor. If you donate between July 15 and August 15, you’ll help us secure that matching money, which will go a long way to sustaining the services that cats and families in the Shenandoah Valley have come to rely on.

Last year, you all donated $50,810.77 to the Summertime Challenge. Can you help our kitties sing a happy tune and beat last year’s total? Every dollar counts as we seek to save as many lives as possible!

If you opt to give at one of the sponsor levels, just use the memo line of your check or the comment box on our online donation page to specify whether you wish to be acknowledged by name on all media, if you want your gift to be completely anonymous, or if you are fine with name recognition in our newsletter only but not on social media. To donate online, go to www.catscradleva.org.

🎵🎵 Won’t you purr along with the Summertime Challenge? 🎵🎵