New Beginnings for Cats

03/30/2025

Hi! We want to give Kaden, from Boy Scout troop 361, a big thank you for all of your hard work on our kitchen renovation project! Kaden and his amazing team spent all day and evening on Saturday putting in a new kitchen for his Eagle Scout project. (They are even coming back to put in a new back splash)!
It turned out so wonderfully and will make it much easier to help us stay organized, serve up our kitties' food, and prepare our med treatments! From the bottom of our hearts, we sincerely thank you and are very grateful for you!
And, lobby cat Pollyanna is happy to report that it passed all inspections! She approves! 😻

03/28/2025

Hi! We wanted to give a happy update on our three new kitties that were surrendered a few weeks ago. If you recall, the man who surrendered them shoved the stroller they were in at one of our shelter techs and stormed out. The kitties were so frightened at first. But after a couple of days they realized that we were there to help them feel comfortable. We promised them that they would only know love from here on out.
Below are a few recent pictures showing them settling in. They seem to be very good friends and love to be with each other, so we hope that when it comes time for adoption, a special person or family would be willing to adopt all three of them! They have been through so much together and we intend to let them stay together for life!💕
PS... We also want to thank everyone who donated towards their care or shared their post. We were able to get all of their vet work done and they are healthy, happy kitties! 😻

03/28/2025

Hi! We wanted to let you know that our shelter will be closed this weekend, March 29-30. We have a local Boy Scout coming out to refurbish our kitchen area, as part of his Eagle Scout project!
Our shelter kitchen has been in a desperate need of repair for quite a while and we are so thankful for his help! Below are some of our before pictures. (Our sink leaks and our cabinets are breaking). We will post the "after" pictures on Sunday!

03/26/2025

Hi! A few weeks ago, a wonderful young lady named Nicole came into our shelter looking for a senior cat (knowing that senior cats often get overlooked when it comes to adoption). She met two bonded senior cats named Penny and Annie. She knew that they needed to come home with her! Penny is about 15 years old and Annie was just getting ready to celebrate her 19th birthday!
Not long after Annie's 19th birthday, she started to suddenly have some health issues and Nicole was with her as she crossed over the Rainbow Bridge. As sad as this was to Nicole and all of us, we were so happy that Annie was blessed with her forever home, even if for just a short time. In that time, Annie was able to enjoy many meals of cooked chicken (her favorite!), a spa day at the groomers, and she had a fun 19th birthday celebration! All cats should be so lucky!
Penny continues to thrive in Nicole's home, and recently she adopted a new friend for Penny, our very own Midnight Muppet! (Midnight was a senior kitty dumped on our shelter road a few months ago and it took us a couple of days to find her and get her to the safety of our shelter). While Midnight will never replace sweet Annie, Nicole knew she wanted to give another older cat a chance at a family!
We appreciate adopters like Nicole, who see the beauty and value of senior cats. Thank you, Nicole, for being a friend and family member to these senior cats - may your example of kindness and compassion inspire other people to take a chance on a senior cat! 😻 💕

03/22/2025

Hi! My name is Munchie, and I am the leukemia positive kitty who had my dental surgery on Tuesday. I am back at the shelter and recovering well! I am able to eat soft foods very well and I am purring all of the time! ☺️
Because of amazing supporters like you I am able to live a healthy, happy and pain-free life!
Thank you to everyone who donated towards the cost of my dental surgery and to everyone who shared my post! I am a very lucky kitty to have people who care so much about me! 🥰

03/18/2025

Our March fundraising campaign is just around the corner. This inspiring email and online fundraiser will help support medical expenses for our beloved companions. Every donation, no matter how small, brings us closer to our goal.

03/18/2025

We extend our sincerest gratitude to Texas Roadhouse for hosting our event and providing exceptional support. We appreciate everyone who participated in our Dine to Donate fundraiser yesterday and are deeply thankful for your contributions. The winners of the baskets are as follows: Men's - Micki M, Women's - Mo M, Children's - Addison.

03/10/2025

Hi! All of the kitties and humans want to say a great big THANK YOU for all of the love, support, post shares, and donations for our three new kitties and for Munchie, who desperately needs dental surgery. We are humbled by everyone's generosity and concern, and are so blessed to have a community that supports us, as we try to save as many cats as we can!
Our three new kitties are settling in nicely and are so comfortable with us. They purr when we pet them and enjoy socializing! They are quite friendly! 😻 We are naming them Lucky (black kitty), Shamrock (orange kitty), and Clover (brown tiger kitty).
Thanks, again, for helping us care for these beautiful kitties! 💖

03/06/2025

LONG POST! Some days are extra tough in animal rescue. Yesterday, a man came into our shelter with three adult cats in a stroller. He told one of our shelter techs that he was leaving the cats at our shelter. Our shelter tech told him that we had no open cages for any intakes at this time. The man proceeded to shove the stroller at our amazing shelter tech and then proceeded to use some vulgar language towards her. He then walked out, got into his car, and sped away. We do have pictures of the vehicle and we have filed a police report for animal abandonment, as well as aggression towards one of our shelter techs.

These poor kitties are scared to say the least. Their entire world has been turned upside down in a matter of moments. We will make sure that these kitties have a great life with us and our hope is that we can find them the home that they certainly deserve!

We were not expecting to take in three more kitties who need to be fed and vetted. But, this is what you do for animals in need.

I know it seems that animal rescues are always asking for donations. The truth is we get no funding, besides donations. We humbly ask for any help that the public may give us to take care of these new kitties. Our budget is stretched very thin right now as we have a leukemia cat named Munchie in need of a dental and much of our emergency funds are going towards her dental surgery.

Please consider even a small donation, because everything helps. Sharing our post and spreading awareness about what animal rescues do can also help tremendously.

We have included pictures of Munchie as well as our three new kitty friends. We think it's important for the public to see who they are helping. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you so much for all of the support you show to our kitties. There is no possible way to do what we do without your help!
Sincerely, Jenn (19-year New Beginnings volunteer) 💕

02/06/2025

It is with profound sorrow that we announce the passing of our founder, Harry Carpenter. Visitation will be held on Monday, February 10th, from 10am until the memorial mass at 10:30 at St. Rose of Lima in Kankakee. For full details, please refer to the Kankakee Daily Journal.

12/31/2024

Hi! Hansel, our sweet blind leukemia kitty, wanted to let you know that our shelter will be closed tomorrow for the New Year 's Day holiday. (He had a meeting about this decision with his friends, Sully and Jesse, and this is what they decided)!
Happy New Year to everyone and, as always, thanks for all of your support of the kitties residing at New Beginnings! 😻 🥰

12/26/2024

About a week before Christmas a nice gentleman named Tim came in looking for an older kitty. He stated that he was looking for a senior kitty, who was on the calm side, and just wanted a nice couch to lay on. Tim spent quite a long time here looking at our different senior kitties. He went into one of our cat rooms and fell in love with a 15-year-old kitty named Whiskers! Tim knew he had found his purrfect buddy! Just a couple of days before Christmas, Whiskers got the ultimate gift of a forever home!
We are so thankful for people like Tim who see the beauty and joy that define senior kitties! They are some of the most overlooked kitties in shelters and they still have so much love to give, if people are just willing to give them a chance! Thanks, Tim, for giving Whiskers that chance! ❤️ 😻

12/23/2024

Hi! We will be closed on Christmas Day so that our staff can take care of our kitties and celebrate Christmas with them! We will be open today (Monday, Dec. 23) from 10 - 2. Feel free to stop by; the kitties would love some visitors! Thanks for all of the support you've given the kitties this year - we couldn't do this without you! Merry Christmas! 😻🎄🎀 🎁

12/03/2024

Hi from the leukemia positive cats at Harry's House! For Giving Tuesday, we have a very special request. This past weekend the heat in our building where we live went out and at one point it was below 60° and we were shivering! 🥶 Thanks to our wonderful heating company, Cousins Heating and Plumbing, we were able to get it fixed and now we are toasty warm again! 😊 However, our repairs will be costly and we are asking for any help, whether it is sharing this post or making a donation towards our heating repair. We know it takes a village to take care of us and we thank you so very much! ❤️
Sincerely,
Jesse, Lucy, Sully, Elsie, Hansel, Zak, Vivian, Benny, and Connor (the greatest leukemia cats in the world!) 😻 💕 🩷

PS... We LOVE having visitors and we are a very friendly group! We would love for you to come meet us sometime! 🥰

11/13/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15V7xb94F6/?mibextid=WC7FNe

Since opening our new location in August, we have been able increase our offerings. Our surgeries are still very discounted, without sacrificing the medicine for all pets in need. Spread the word and give us a call. 815-630-4411

10/31/2024

Happy Halloween from all of the kitties at New Beginnings! Zak, one of our leukemia positive kitties, is doing his best impression of a vampire!

10/29/2024

Happy National Cat Day to these adorable sweethearts!