Help GLPCR build a dedicated cat sanctuary

Help us create a new dedicated cat sanctuary!

We are in urgent need of expanding our rescue and sanctuary for it’s continued existence where the overflow of cats can live and where we can once again start taking in rescues. We have found the ideal place in a four acre tranquil nature setting with lots of possibilities incl. a caretakers house, large gardens to create shelters for the cats, recovery and recuperation areas, visitors area (we hope to invite children for educational purposes!), a chance to build our own neutering clinic and even fields for rescued donkeys which has been our dream for years!

For the first time since it’s beginning in 2010, we’re sharing the personal story and struggle to keep this cat rescue and sanctuary in existence and the now desperate need to expand and move on. You can see us talk about it in the upcoming Netflix documentary where we share some personal ‘behind the scenes’ stories from the last 11 years. It will air July 7th 2021.

Eleven years ago we uprooted from a comfortable life in Denmark and moved to a little Greek island where we’d just completed the building work of a small estate of 4 semidetached houses set on one acre of land overlooking the Aegean Sea. We’d invested all the money we had and come here with the idea to recover from years of stress and burnout and to focus in a different way on our work as an author and artist and to use our place as a summer rental to make a living for ourselves and to conduct seminars on conscious living - something we’d already spent years together doing. 



But clearly the cats of Syros had other ideas and it was as if they already knew Joan’s heart for cats and that at the back of her mind, she had come with the intent to at least help make life better for Greek cats! We knew of the desperate plight of Greek cats from years of traveling throughout Greece and Joan, having already volunteered with cats in Denmark, felt compelled to help. She just had no idea how quick the path of her life would be changed by the cats. Once she’d rescued the first sick kitten and restored it’s health she started noticing the sicks cats everywhere and within the first year she’d rescued 30 cats that all came to live at the newly built estate. Back then she had no network and getting the rescued cats adopted wasn’t really an option and we had to dig deep into our own pockets to cover vet bills and food for the increasing number of cats. Over the years the number of rescues kept coming and the numbers peaked during the winter of 18/19 where we had a total of 72 rescues and by then we were using all four houses for the rescues to recover and recouperate. Also by then we had such a need for extra help that two of our houses were used to house the caretakers to help provide around the clock care for our urgent need rescues.



Basically by then we’d handed over everything we owned for the sake of the cats and we’ve now lived inside this cat sanctuary with cats and helpers coming and going for the last 11 years. We have dedicated ourselves wholeheartedly without pay up until today and covered all housing, water and electricity out of our own pockets and never charged the charity for that. We have been able to provide the cats with food and veterinary care thanks to our wonderful sponsors, but we now find ourselves at a point where we ourselves must return part of the estate to it’s original idea with house rentals to make a living for ourselves BUT the caretakers house and the entire lower part of our garden remains the dedicated cat sanctuary.






The rescue work we’ve done over the last 11 years have enriched our lives beyond measure but today we are penniless and unable to move and our rescue work is very limited. Over the years we’ve talked many times about selling this estate but we feel in our heart of hearts that we couldn’t possibly as this place belongs to at least half of our garden cats and this place is their home. That’s why we have a caretaker team in place to ensure they can stay and be properly cared for BUT we must now expand into a larger dedicated cat sanctuary - the need is overwhelming as kittens are being dumped on us at a rapid rate and we can no longer squeeze more cats into this place! Many of our current resident cats are distressed as we've got too many living in the same space and with limited adoption offers the problem in chronic in our current place! 



We have big dreams for the new sanctuary and what it can be and since we have this once in a lifetime unique opportunity through the exposure of the Netflix documentary, we're allowing ourselves to dream BIG with this fundraiser and hope you'll help us build something bigger and better for the sake of the endless unwanted cats we come by each year!



We are incredibly excited about this project and hope it can turn into a reality! It will take time as it involves old buildings that needs to be restored but we will keep you updated here. You can also follow updates on this new vision on FB where we daily post updates about the cats as well: https://www.facebook.com/godslittlepeople

Thank you in advance for your support ❤️