Our Story
Founded by Angela Gipson and Jasmine Rivera.
Angela Gipson moved to Bonita Springs Florida in 2014 and she started noticing cats - lots of them, everywhere! On roofs, on cars, under buildings, in the shrubs, etc. She did not see many with a "left ear tip," which would indicate that the cats were fixed but she noticed that some cats were being fed. At first, like most people, Angela thought this was "none of her business" and continued about her daily life. Then one day, she saw a cat struggling to get up near a local colony. It had been hit by a car and immediately she knew that she had to do something. This cat died a few minutes later. After researching, she learned that in Bonita Springs and Lee County Florida, residents could have cats fixed for FREE through a county/city sponsored TNR Program. So why in the world is no one fixing these cats?
One thing led to another and she met the lady who fed the colony where the cat had been hit. The woman was too old to do the trapping on her own but welcomed the help. Through Facebook, Angela began reaching out to cat rescue organizations to see if anyone would guide her because she had never done TNR before. After a bit of networking, she connected with a lady named Gwen from a Naples cat rescue called Camp Many Paws. They met and decided to work together, trekking trapped cats all the way up to Ft Myers to have the cats spayed or neutered and vaccinated; they also got their ear tip and a microchip. As they worked on one colony, they got tips on others and they kept working their way around the city, block by block. Eighteen months and 125 cats later, the City of Bonita Springs hired Dr Linda Kitchen to do the TNR surgeries for residents of Bonita Springs. Happy Day!! A local vet made the entire process so much easier and the cats were getting the best of care.
Gwen moved from the immediate area, but Angela kept on trapping, networking, and building an army of volunteers and supporters as demands and needs grew. To date, what started out as a need to “do something” has resulted in the sterilization of over 1500 Bonita Springs cats between volunteers and residents; a team of 40 volunteers have joined her to assist with trapping, transport, care and feeding of fixed colonies; Community Cats of Bonita Springs was created as a non profit organization and currently provides food for about 300 street cats every day. They have also pulled hundreds of kittens off the street and moved them to rescues for adoption and they provide medical care for cats who are ill or injured. One barrier to growth was that Angela could not communicate with the many Spanish speaking residents of Bonita Springs. Luckily, she met Jasmine Rivera, a bilingual cat & TNR advocate, and they joined forces to better serve those neighborhoods; so now some of the most under-served cats in Bonita Springs have been sterilized and vaccinated, are fed daily and get vet care as needed thanks to Jasmine’s tireless work. Other key volunteers soon joined their ranks to provide space for holding cats before and after surgery, for fundraising, events, colony management and for social media and administrative functions.
Donations to Community Cats of Bonita are used for cat food and veterinary care as needed. Every penny taken in is used to help the cats of Bonita Springs who are homeless through no fault of their own, with the primary goal of fixing as many as possible to continually reduce the population. We are 100% volunteer and funded by donation.
Please help us! We need volunteers, cat food and donations. Message us if you would like to help or need help. If you live in Bonita Springs, message us for a location to drop off cat food.
You can also donate via our Amazon Wish List, here: http://bit.ly/kittyfixersMonetary donations can be sent by Paypal to [email protected]. Checks made payable to Community Cats of Bonita Springs may be sent to PO Box 366034, Bonita Springs, FL 34136.
