Feral Fixers Logo
Practicing and promoting Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) in DuPage County, Illinois

We're a 501c3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting and practicing Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) in DuPage County, Illinois. We believe that TNR is the only effective, humane and long-term solution to the problem of cat overpopulation.
The Feral Fixers e-Newsletter - Issue #21 - July  2010
In This Issue
Message from the President
Cataoke!
Want to Help?
Forest Park is TNR friendly
How many cats? 1,886 !!
Donate to Feral Fixers
Calendar of Upcoming Events
Shop for Feral Fixers
Visit us on the Web
What is Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR)?
About us
Dear Friend,

It's July and that means it's nearly time for Wet Your Whiskers - the annual summertime event for cat lovers and TNR advocates!  This year we are going to be doing something a bit different, hosting our first Cataoke (cat-themed Karaoke)!

This event will be held on July 17th - more details of this event are shown later on in this newsletter.  Come on out and show your support for Feral Fixers and TNR!

In our monthly Message from the President column, Tammy writes about all the progress we have made in the last several months.  We are closing in on having had 2,000 cats (mostly ferals) spayed/neutered since our inception.  Tammy also writes about how we did in our June is for Kittens fundraiser and one of our really super volunteers.

Details on these events, a calendar of all of our events scheduled so far (this will be our busiest event year ever) and a report on how many cats Feral Fixers has taken care of so far are in this newsletter.

Thank you for all of your continued support!
 
Sincerely,
 

Feral Fixers
Scroll Graphic Message from the President

As I write this, we are close to 1900 cats since we became an official organization in September '07. It was the end of July last year when we achieved 1,000 and it took us 18 months to do that. To have helped another nine hundred in just 12 months is amazing!

It would be great to be able to report that we were going to achieve our 2,000th cat in July, but I just don't think our transport and recovery resources will enable us to do that. We should make that goal by the end of August, I'm crossing my fingers! We've had new volunteers that have helped lighten the load tremendously, but we just don't seem to be able to create more time in everyone's schedule! If you or someone you know would like to help us, please contact us!

"June is for Kittens" Results

Our donors were extremely generous and we received $2,265 at this writing to cover the costs of neutering 41 kittens in June! That is a huge amount and we are very grateful. Many people gave well above their comfort level and their generosity will have a far-reaching effect. Those kittens will NOT go on to create more kittens and the ones we have neutered and fostered will go on to happy homes. A huge win-win and we cannot express how much we appreciate your help!

(Special note: - After this President's letter was written, we received an additional donation of $500!  This brings our total received to $2,765 - exceeding our goal!)

Cataoke - Karaoke for Cat Lovers

Please join us for our summer event - Cataoke! This is our latest version of Wet Your Whiskers and we hope to provide everyone with a really enjoyable event. Attendees are already making plans about which songs they will perform! We will have appetizers, cash bar, 50-50 raffle and lots of fun! We'll be offering to sing for a $5 donation and the DJ has an extensive play list! Bring donations from our wish list to "Fill Our Van" to receive a raffle ticket for a gift basket. Pre-register for $15 by mailing to our P.O. Box by 7/15 or by PayPal by 7/16 and join us for a lot of fun!


Read more from our President this month here.
Wet Your Whiskers II - Cataoke WYW Logo

On July 17th, Feral Fixers will host its second annual "Wet Your Whiskers" get-together and fundraiser. We will be holding this event at the Elmhurst Public House, located at 683 W St. Charles Rd in Elmhurst, IL from 7:00pm to 10:00pm.

This event was a lot of fun last year and this year, it promises to be even more fun! We are having a karaoke theme this year, but since it's a cat-friendly event, we've named it 'Cataoke'.

Live music will be provided by Directors, Officers and Volunteers of Feral Fixers singing their favorite tunes for $5 donations!

As we did at last year's event, we will again feature Fill the Van.  We will have a van parked outside where you can donate cat food, cat litter or any other item on our Wish List to Feral Fixers.  For every item you donate, you will receive raffle tickets for a Gift Basket!

In addition to the Live Music, there will be appetizers, a cash bar, a 50-50 raffle and some cat-themed items to purchase!

Tickets are $20 at the door and $15 in advance.  If you wish to purchase the "Early Bird" special tickets, just click on the Buy Now button, below, or visit our website and purchase the tickets there.

Either way, we hope to see you at Cataoke - it promises to be a lot of fun!


Want to help?

Help WantedInterested in helping Feral Fixers? We are looking for a 'few good volunteers'! Specifically, we're looking for someone to help us transport cats to and from PAWS (the Spay/Neuter clinic we use) in Chicago.

We need transport both in the morning and the afternoon. If you're interested in helping, call us at (630) 881-FXRS (3977) or email us at [email protected].
Forest Park LogoForest Park is TNR friendly

In the June 2nd issue of the Forest Park Review, columnist John Rice talks about how volunteers in Forest Park (with the blessing of the village 'elders') are promoting and practicing Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) to deal with their local feral cat issue.

Money quote from the article: "The Group is called CATS for Forest Park.  The acronym stands for Care-And-Trap/neuter/release Strays. They have the blessing of the village and the sponsorship of Animal Care League, the shelter in Oak Park, to monitor and feed the cat colonies, while reducing their population through sterilization."

Forest park "gets it" - and that's great to see!

You can read the entire article here.
How many cats? - 1,886 !! Statistics graphic

Feral Fixers was founded in September of 2007. In that abbreviated first year, Feral Fixers had 86 cats spayed / neutered. In 2008, Feral Fixers had 525 cats spayed / neutered and in 2009, Feral Fixers had 868 cats spayed / neutered. So far in 2010, Feral Fixers has had 407 cats spayed / neutered.  This is 70 cats more than what we had TNR'd last year at this time.

This brings us to a total of 1,886 cats. Clicking on the calculator to the right will send you to the Feral Fixers 'Statistics' page where you can see our progress, month-by-month, since we've started work.
Donate to Feral Fixers

PayPal DonationFeral Fixers offers its TNR services to all colony caretakers, without charge.  While we ask for donations from colony caretakers, we recognize that for some of them, any additional cost is just too much.  Therefore we rely on donations from other individuals to make up the difference and allow us to continue our work.  These donations allow us to spay/neuter additional cats, keep a 'bank' of traps and trap dividers we loan out for free, hold workshops and provide other educational benefits.

You can help us continue our work by clicking on the Donate button, above.  This will take you to the PayPal website where you can donate to Feral Fixers via PayPal or credit card.  Feral Fixers is a registered 501c3 charitable organization and all donations are deductible to the fullest amount allowed by law.

We greatly appreciate any amount you can afford to give - Thank You!
Calendar of Upcoming Events

Calendar graphicJuly 17th, 2010 - Wet Your Whiskers II - Cataoke.  Feral Fixers will host its second annual Wet Your Whiskers get together and fundraiser on Saturday, July 17th.  This event will be held from 7:00pm to 10:00pm at the Elmhurst Public House located at 683 W St. Charles Rd. in Elmhurst.  Details of this event are shown, above, in this e-Newsletter.

September 11th, 2010 - Pet Lovers Showcase in Wood Dale.  This event will be held on Saturday, September 11th, from 10:00am to 2:00pm.  Feral Fixers will again be hosting a booth at this event.  Our relationship with the city of Wood Dale continues to grow and we anticipate spaying/neutering many, many cats in this community this year.  Come out to this event and say hello!

September 26th, 2010 - The West Suburban Humane Society hosts its annual Barkapalooza celebration in Downers Grove, IL on Sunday, September 26th.  This will be the fourth year in a row that Feral Fixers has hosted a booth at this function.  Though it is billed as 'dog-friendly' event, attendees are always very interested in what we're doing with Feral Cats.  We hope to see you there!
Shop for Feral Fixers

Want to purchase something purr-fect for your cat-lover friends and help out Feral Fixers at the same time?  Just visit our Caf� Press store and Buy Something! In addition to the Calendar shown to the right, we have T-shirts, sweatshirts, aprons, hoodies, gym bags, messenger bags, coffee mugs, tote-bags, pet food bowls, etc. A portion of each sale goes to help us in our TNR efforts.

To visit the store, just click on the Calendar or visit our website and click on the 'Buy Something' button at the top - Thank you!
WWW GraphicVisit us on the Web

Visit our website at www.feralfixers.org.  There you can donate to us (via PayPal or credit card), visit our store, read the latest news, and learn more about feral cats.

If this newsletter has been forwarded to you, you can also sign up to be on our mailing list so you don't miss a thing!
What is Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR)?

TNR CatTNR is a full management plan in which stray and feral cats already living outdoors in cities, towns, and rural areas are humanely trapped, evaluated, vaccinated, and sterilized by veterinarians.

When space is available, adoptable cats and kittens are transferred to sheltering organizations to be adopted into good homes. Healthy adult cats unsocialized to humans are returned to their familiar habitat under the lifelong care of their original caretakers.
Feral Fixers, NFP, is a certified 501c3 corporation - EIN Number 13-4364615