Hello. My name is Kathleen, but everyone calls me Kat. I come to you all in need of a special kind of help. And this is my story....I live in a very rural area, where people do not get their pets spayed or neutered or get them medical attention when needed, & people dump pets or batches of kittens in ditches. The majority of my life has been extremely dedicated to animal rescue, I have always reached out & done everything I can to help them. I am currently working on paperwork to apply as a non-profit animal rescue/sanctuary which has always been my lifetime goal. I would be the only source of help that animals have anywhere near here. In order for me to do this though, I'm in dire need of help. The rescues pour in consistently at my home which has been adapted to serve as a sanctuary. Every space available has been utilized for their needs. I have built storm shelters under my front porch & back steps, under the sunporch & in the garden shed, built one on the back of the house in a spot that is well sheltered & built a second level onto the doghouse, which is located outside my window & serves as an observation shelter, so I can easily find new rescues & observe their behavior & condition to determine their needs. The sunporch is converted into an isolation room & one bathroom has served well as an intensive care space for rescues. The bedroom & living room have also been utilized as isolation rooms when needed & I still have hope of expanding their care spaces. While I am very thankful to help them in anyway that I can, I am about to go hungry myself. I put their needs ahead of my own, always. I need assistance with covering medical costs & basic necessities for them, as well as help getting needed equipment like an incubator an oxygen tent, & help to fell a very large, multi-trunked poplar tree which is threatening to crush half the house & multiple shelters & has to come down for the safety of us all here. If this Go Fund Me succeeds then I can show on paperwork that I can, in fact do this, & that will help the application to be approved. My main focus is to build sanctuary for everyone I can. I rescue domestic water fowl (ducks & geese) & cats. My goal especially for the cats is to get them the medical attention they need, get them spayed or neutered & find them responsible forever homes. However without help that I seek & desperately need, I will need to stop helping them...& that would go against everything that I am built for. So many animals would suffer & die horribly if I am unable to help them. This is so much more than a lifetime dream to me. It's everything I have to give, what I'm made of, every bit of me. If anyone can help me, help these precious little ones, I would be beyond appreciative. Providing sanctuary for all of those in need, within my reach, is my ultimate priority. The amount I am asking for is how much it will cost to give needed medical attention, & to fell the threatening tree, as well as to cover some of the basic costs of feeding & bedding. It does not include the following expenses; dental surgery for 2 cats (because I don't have an estimate on that yet), cost of euthanasia ($158.20/cat) Very important to have something set aside incase someone has no options, since suffering is not acceptable & is hard on everyone involved, straw bedding for the birds & storm shelters (because I buy direct from the farmers & they don't provide receipts), & building supplies to reinforce the storm shelters (because I don't have an estimate on that yet). These expenses have been collectively left out because I don't want to guess on numbers, the rest of the grand total is fact taken directly from receipts. If by some incredible & grateful miracle I end up with more than what I am asking for, these will be priority, otherwise they will come out of pocket. In conclusion, if anyone could help at all towards any of these expenses, then it would have a long lasting effects for which I would be forever grateful. If I could use just some of my own out of pocket towards catching up on my own medical needs, rather than it all going directly to them then I might buy myself a little more time to help them. Multiple lives are saved here every year, so every year counts for a lot. If this works & my application is approved then I will be able to get discounts on spay & neuter operations, I could get tax breaks, I would be eligible for food donations from my local pet store, I could do so much more good given the chance to. There is a whole lot of good going down over here, I hope you'll find it in your hearts to join me in doing some life saving good. Please help me give these precious animals a chance at a long & loving life. Thank You for taking the time to read this & please feel free to share it!