Wednesday, April 27, 2011

How Big Is Puffy Paws ?



How Big Is Puffy Paws ?

Two Buildings. Almost 3,000 sq feet. A Purffect fence outside area for the kitties. Funds are needed to complete the project. All the kitties living in Harmony. 

ABC News 7 & The Sarasota Herald Tribune has called Puffy Paws ' A Bed & Breakfast For Cats".


All the major media companies have been in the Haven and they say the same thing.


The Haven is spotless and no cat odor. 
You may read all about it in our Press Section. 
PLEASE SHARE !

Yesterday I had a gentleman who used to run a Habit for Humanity Store. He saw our many ads on craigslist. He wants to get in the Thrift Shop business for himself  and came down to see our operation and was totally amazed in how we operate, in regards we have to take a donation for each item ,instead of out right selling it.

He could not believe we are actually doing  it all for the kitties and that the funds went to the kitties daily needs and instead of the funds going in our pockets in the name of a salary,  like most nonprofits, he sees out their.

He said we had the best location being 50 yards from the Englewood's Walmart
front door.

Sometimes I can not see how good we have it and it was nice and refreshing to get mad props form a total stranger who worked in the business.

Even tho the Thrift Shop does not do as well as we want on some days If we did not have it , we would have been closed down almost two years ago because of lack of funds.

I'm trying to get the kinks out of Mission Fish so we can sell on eBay.We are having problems logging in.

The future is bright as long as we pay the current bills.

Today I will be working in the office as Ken will be running the Shop with Community Service Personal help.

We have a Van load of stuff to be process and more to be picked up.

Today I'm grateful and fearful at the same time.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Not Out Of The Woods Yet

From Tuesday April 12, 2011 - From Our facebook's Post
UGRENT: FLORIDA POWER AND LIGHT JUST TURNED THE POWER OFF AT THE HAVEN: http://www.puffypawskittyhaven.com/

We just paid $817 dollars to Florida Power and lights last week when the truck came out . They told us to pay $817 and we did and someone will call us back to tell us what we have to do to keep the power on.

They never did g... et back with us and around 1 o'clock today a FPL Truck showed up and cut the power off at the pole.

.Chrissy begged them to find out what was going on and what we have to do.

They said - The collection department refused to turn the power back on and the truck left without giving us any more information.

I just got off the phone with a rep from FPL and I just got back from the FPL pay station.

We have to cover the deposit to get and keep the power back on of $1301.00.

We are waiting for a call back from FPL to tell us when they are sending out the FPL Truck to turn the power back on today.

They said if they could do it today.

I contact SSN6 ,The Sarasota Herald Tribune and waiting for call back from them.

Also FPL informed me that after the $1301 is covered we owe $1269.00 for power used since January 1st and that will be billed on April 22, 2001.

Why could they not tell us last week in what we have to do , so this would have not happened.

I should have called them.

We beg of you please share on Care2 and all other Social Networks and blogs.

Please donate if you can the kitties need the power.
http://www.puffypawskittyhaven.com/

Sincerely,
Rick Kingston Puffy Paws Kitty Haven
 
GOOD NEWS: The power was turned back on at 5pm today. All the kitties are fine. It got up to around 78. 80 in some rooms in the Haven. Chrissy is the most shook up up by today's event, so I'm in the dog house.

I made over twenty calls to different people at FPL get the power turn on. Some of the FPL people were telling me, tomorrow that... they will be out. I even called their Media office line, to inform them of a definitive PR disaster for them & us, if anything happen to the kitties.

My pleas were finally heard by a nice lady in a a different department and she got the reconnect order expedited to today.

They sent out a Emergency responses unit, who were very nice and understanding.

We are still raising funds to cover the $1301 I gave them. If the funds are not their ,they will be out to turn it off.

Also we owe FPL we owe $1269.00 for power used since January 1st and that will be billed on April 22, 2001.

Today started off great as you can read by the previous post. Also the blog for today just goes to show we can advert this stuff from happening again as long as we can get local volunteers to take us to the next level.

We have everything in place accept the additional help we need.

We have two AC Units , one old and one new one that was subpar for the Haven.

We had FPL out twice to analyzed the problem with the high bills.

We have brand new installation the attic in the Haven.

We are putting some of the stuff we need on our Amazon list such as Window Tint and white roof paint for the places that are tarred down.

This will bring the bill down.

We need help in writing those grants for 2 new AC systems.

Mad Kitty Love goes out to you all for being their once again.

Thank you for donating sharing and praying.

I will be updating through out the night.

Rick

Monday, April 11, 2011

From Start To Finish

My wife and I are only two people running Puffy Paws Kitty Haven along with a few volunteers and the court order Community Service Personal. These people are folks that got into trouble and are trying to pay their debt to society.

Why is it that the so called social rejects of society are doing more for the unwanted kitties under our care, than the normal God fearing good people of the Community ?

We were on the radio , in the Newspaper, asking churches to help us put adoption events on at their church. NOT ONE CHURCH CALLED !

We have been  begging this Community for help for years. Help with adoptions , PR, & fund raising events.

We finally have a handful of volunteers to put on a monthly adoption event but that is not enough we need more people.

While the Humane Society and other rescue groups in the area enjoy paid employees and a host of volunteers, we do not.

Don’t blame it on me. I’m who I’m .

Proof in  point.

We I ran my music media organization . The newspaper  “ The BackFlash “ and  the TV Show “Underground TV “  both  endeavors were promoting the local music scene in Rochester NY.

In two years I put out 24 issues with 10,000 copies coming over the press each month .

I had two TV show going on at  the same time. One was a half hour. Underground TV and the other was a hour long.” Underground TV Rocks Rochester ”.

I had the TV show in 250,000 homes in 5 New York Counties.

I had no problem in recruiting volunteers and assigning them projects to complete from start to finish.

From Video Taping a local music show down at the Penny Arcade, to editing the Newspaper, to proofreaders,  to reporters going on interviews to interview some of the biggest bands in business,.

Bands like Marylyn Manson, Candle box, Nine Inch Nail, Bo Diddley, Green Day and more.

I only have 6 college credits of education yet folks with , Masters , Bachelors,  and Associates degrees were volunteering their time to make the music scene a better place for the local musicians.

All under my direction.

They understood I could not do it all by myself .

Neither can Chrissy and I today with Puffy Paws.

Chrissy hauls in 600 pounds of cat litter around the Haven daily & takes it back out. She washes over 50 cat litter boxes daily. Every four hours she puts out the wet cat food at 18 feeding stations, like our Vet told us too.

She vacuum & mops and dust daily. She gives out meds. She brushes the kitties. She tends to the sick ones. She runs to the Vet and the store for supplies too. She does this day in and day out. She does the work of a paid staff of 10.

My job is to raise the $250 dollars a day to take care of the kitties daily needs, plus the operating expensive, every single day.

On most days I work up to 15-20 hours a day to accomplish this.

I run the Thrift Shop. I raise funds on-line. I take care of the Media. I run to the Vet. I'm our Web Master. I do all the graphic art work. I update on fb everyday. I pick up the kitties daily supplies in the evening. I pay the bills. I pick up donations for Thrift Shop. I put out the SOS's for help.

Our plates are full.

I put out all the fires that pop out daily. I'm my wife's venting post. I'm the fixer.

I’m in a fight for the kitties lives. If I fail at raising the funds needed to take care of the 230 under our care there will be no other option but to close down.

What choice would we have ?

It’s not fair but life is not.

There is not enough hours in the day for us to take on anymore

That is why we have been begging for help.

Asking folks to take on projects from start to finish.

Shame on this community for not stepping up to the plate with adoptions, PR and fundraising events for their unwanted cats.

Instead this Community tried to kill the cats and take away the cats by calling Code Enforcement and shutting all traffic down to the Haven.

Do you know how many more cats we could have adopted out if we could have folks come to the Haven for adoptions ?

I will put it this way. We had over 200 adoptions when we had open House at the Haven
three times a week.

Now we are struggling to find people to complete projects start to finish and for all the events we need to survive and take Puffy Paws to the next level.

But we will improvise , adapt and overcome and the Puffy Paws kitties will live another day.

The very sad reality is that the  only ones who suffered and that were killed by the hands of others were the community cats that we could not help  because we could not take them in because we are full because the community shut the adoptions at the Haven down.