Why Do the BCR Cats Need a New Building? For more than 20 years, Blind Cat Rescue & Sanctuary has provided lifelong care to blind, leukemia-positive, and FIV- positive cats who had nowhere else to go. What started as a small rescue has grown into a lifelong sanctuary that has provided a forever home to more than 400 cats, helped change the perception of blind and virus-positive cats through education and advocacy, and helped spay and neuter nearly 18,000 cats through our sponsored spay/neuter program. When Alana started Blind Cat Rescue with her daughter in 2005, she never imagined that this small rescue would grow into something that would help so many cats and so many people. Over the years, we’ve built and expanded as our need grew, always doing the best we could with what we had at the time. Today, after more than two decades of use, our current buildings face significant and costly structural and maintenance challenges. The Reality of Maintaining the Current Buildings Due to years of heavy and consistent use as well as some long- standing problems we’ve discovered in carrying out regular repairs, we now face persistent and costly maintenance issues across the buildings currently in use. These include: • Inadequate insulation in the original construction and years of heavy use leading to ongoing humidity and climate control issues. • Increasingly costly structural maintenance and repair on all the buildings • Foundation repair needs • Termite infestation and damage • The need for a temperature controlled environment (centralized heat and AC) for the cats’ health When we began adding up the repair and maintenance costs to continue to use all three buildings and knowing that we needed to continue to care for the cats without the ability to relocate them during major construction, our senior staff and our board knew this path was unfeasible and would not ensure that BCR could continue. At that point, it became clear that investing in a new facility built to last and designed specifically for the cats and their long-term needs made far more fiscal and practical sense. Building Smarter With 20 Years of Experience Over the past 20 years, we have learned a tremendous amount through trial and error, success, and sometimes difficult lessons. This new building gives us the opportunity to take everything we have learned and design a sanctuary that is: • Easier to clean and sanitize • Better insulated and climate controlled • Designed for proper airflow and air filtration • Built to reduce long-term maintenance costs • Safer and more comfortable for the cats • More efficient for daily care and medical monitoring • Built specifically for lifelong sanctuary care Instead of maintaining multiple aging buildings with ongoing repair costs, we will be able to centralize the cats into one purpose-built facility designed around and for their needs. What Will Happen to the Current Buildings? When the cats move into the new building and we can properly repair and renovate the existing buildings, we plan to utilize them to better serve and benefit our community. These buildings may be used for: • Spay/neuter and outreach programs • Medical or quarantine overflow if needed • Volunteer and community programs • Storage and operations • Future rescue and community support efforts. The existing buildings will to continue to serve BCR’s mission, but in ways that are more appropriate for their structure and condition after repairs. Looking Toward the Future This new building is not about expansion. Blind Cat Rescue & Sanctuary has provided forever homes to more than 400 cats and helped thousands more through advocacy and education. With a new building designed for permanence, we can expand on that impact, help more cats who wouldn’t have a chance without BCR and keep educating about blind, leukemia- and FIV-positive cats. The new building is about sustainability, better care, and the future of the sanctuary. It is about making sure that 20 years from now, there will still be a safe place for these cats to live. We are building this new facility so that Blind Cat Rescue can continue providing lifelong care, medical support, and a forever home for cats who would otherwise have nowhere else to go. With your help, we can build a sanctuary designed specifically for the cats’ needs, a building that will serve them for decades to come. Thank you for being part of the Blind Cat Rescue family and for helping us build the next chapter of this mission.