Help Kitty Catfé Relocate
Donation protected
Update:
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I did go ahead and sign a lease with Partridge Creek in mid July. At the time of this edit, August 5th, we have the painting purchased and complete, the trim purchased, the vestibule door and windows purchased, some permits paid for, the vestibule materials, the litter room and backroom almost complete, and not quite half the flooring purchased. All along I knew the flooring and the furniture would be the largest expense. I’m now to the point where these items need to be purchased so I can get the architectural plans approved, vestibule built, flooring complete and get the state out to issue the license to allow cats and open to the public. It all has to be 100% finished before they will come out. I will also be waiting for the CofO at that time.
We did a bottle drive and are pursuing other avenues for fundraising, but still realistically need somewhere between $12k and $14k to finish. We need about $6600 more in flooring, I have no idea what the architect will be charging next week, the couches, cat condos, cat toys, etc. still need to be purchased as well.
I just wanted to give an update on what was spent and what it still needed as at the time of this post. Thank you all so very much for sharing and/or donating. I could not have started a second location so quickly without your support.
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First and foremost, I can’t say much, per my attorney, so I’ll just state the point of this fundraiser.
Kitty Catfé has been open just 7 weeks in Mount Clemens. We took a space that had been vacant for many years right on Main Street and remodeled it from top to bottom for months using our savings account only, no loans, financing, or credit cards. We wanted foot traffic and a picture window for the kitties so they could be entertained.
Now, we are in a situation where we have two choices, close the doors and surrender the cats back to the shelter or relocate. I did find a space at Partridge Creek Mall and had the State of Michigan out to the current Catfé and the potential new location two days ago. I did get conditional approval on that space, but they require much of the same they did here.
It’s carpeted and must be vinyl flooring, the walls need to be painted with a non-absorbent paint, trim too, ceiling needs to be non-absorbent, so PVC tiles, everything we did at the current location. MDARD also let me know I can’t bring many of the items with me, not the couches, benches, cat tress/condos etc, so it’s like starting all over again.
Conservatively, we need $30k and that’s for just the basics, not an elaborate build out like we just did. We spent more than double that at the current one, so this number is very conservative.
Also, this time around we are short on time. I’m trying to not have to surrender the cats we currently have, vacate the current space, make the necessary changes to the new space asap and have the state out for final approval so we can move the cats there.
That brings me to this. We do not have the funds to do this again so quickly. We also need manpower as we can’t pull it off in four weeks time, either. I’m hoping to be able to raise enough funds to secure the new space and do all that is needed to transport the current cats effortlessly.
I have to let Partridge Creek know by this Tuesday, 4 days from now and file the paperwork at the state so they can start processing and meet the August 1st date, which is already a bit of a rush.
If you can please share this, or donate anything at all, or time to paint, lay flooring, build the vestibule, etc, that’s what we are hoping for.
If we can’t get enough by Tuesday, sadly we will have to close our current location and try to come to terms that we did find 34 cats homes in the 7 weeks we were open and we did the best we could with what we had stacked against us.
Thank you for reading this and for your share and/or support.
*************************************************
I did go ahead and sign a lease with Partridge Creek in mid July. At the time of this edit, August 5th, we have the painting purchased and complete, the trim purchased, the vestibule door and windows purchased, some permits paid for, the vestibule materials, the litter room and backroom almost complete, and not quite half the flooring purchased. All along I knew the flooring and the furniture would be the largest expense. I’m now to the point where these items need to be purchased so I can get the architectural plans approved, vestibule built, flooring complete and get the state out to issue the license to allow cats and open to the public. It all has to be 100% finished before they will come out. I will also be waiting for the CofO at that time.
We did a bottle drive and are pursuing other avenues for fundraising, but still realistically need somewhere between $12k and $14k to finish. We need about $6600 more in flooring, I have no idea what the architect will be charging next week, the couches, cat condos, cat toys, etc. still need to be purchased as well.
I just wanted to give an update on what was spent and what it still needed as at the time of this post. Thank you all so very much for sharing and/or donating. I could not have started a second location so quickly without your support.
***********************************************
First and foremost, I can’t say much, per my attorney, so I’ll just state the point of this fundraiser.
Kitty Catfé has been open just 7 weeks in Mount Clemens. We took a space that had been vacant for many years right on Main Street and remodeled it from top to bottom for months using our savings account only, no loans, financing, or credit cards. We wanted foot traffic and a picture window for the kitties so they could be entertained.
Now, we are in a situation where we have two choices, close the doors and surrender the cats back to the shelter or relocate. I did find a space at Partridge Creek Mall and had the State of Michigan out to the current Catfé and the potential new location two days ago. I did get conditional approval on that space, but they require much of the same they did here.
It’s carpeted and must be vinyl flooring, the walls need to be painted with a non-absorbent paint, trim too, ceiling needs to be non-absorbent, so PVC tiles, everything we did at the current location. MDARD also let me know I can’t bring many of the items with me, not the couches, benches, cat tress/condos etc, so it’s like starting all over again.
Conservatively, we need $30k and that’s for just the basics, not an elaborate build out like we just did. We spent more than double that at the current one, so this number is very conservative.
Also, this time around we are short on time. I’m trying to not have to surrender the cats we currently have, vacate the current space, make the necessary changes to the new space asap and have the state out for final approval so we can move the cats there.
That brings me to this. We do not have the funds to do this again so quickly. We also need manpower as we can’t pull it off in four weeks time, either. I’m hoping to be able to raise enough funds to secure the new space and do all that is needed to transport the current cats effortlessly.
I have to let Partridge Creek know by this Tuesday, 4 days from now and file the paperwork at the state so they can start processing and meet the August 1st date, which is already a bit of a rush.
If you can please share this, or donate anything at all, or time to paint, lay flooring, build the vestibule, etc, that’s what we are hoping for.
If we can’t get enough by Tuesday, sadly we will have to close our current location and try to come to terms that we did find 34 cats homes in the 7 weeks we were open and we did the best we could with what we had stacked against us.
Thank you for reading this and for your share and/or support.
Organizer
Kitty Catfe
Organizer
Charter Township of Clinton, MI
