43
Halloween fundraiser helps shelter cats
By ALEXIS BARTOLOMUCCI
West Side Cats hosted a Halloween Spook-tacular fundraising event at Austintown Park on Oct. 21.
West Side Cats started in 2008 and is a non-profit, no-kill cat shelter and is one of the only no-kill shelters in the area. They host several fundraisers throughout the year to help the cats inside the shelter with the different veterinary bills and check ups that are needed before a cat gets adopted.
“Usually we have a game night every year where we have board games. This year we didn’t do the game night, which we usually do in the early part of the year. We decided to bump it to October instead and do a Halloween event,” said Kimm Koocher, founder of West Side Cats.
Tickets were sold prior to and during the event for entry. The tickets were $5 and included entry, food and an entry for a giant raffle basket. There were games and pumpkins to paint for the children to participate in. Food was sold, as well as tickets for raffle baskets to help raise money for the shelter.
Nick Carano brought his bird, Ouija, for families to hold and pet. Ouija is a therapy bird and goes on trips to mostly nursing hopes with Carano to visit residents.
“He’s 25-years-old next month and I’ve been visiting nursing homes for 19 years now, I’ve had him 19 years,” said Carano.
West Side Cats always welcomes volunteers and they have their own website and Facebook page for guests to visit and get more information on the shelter.
“We do everything we can to save them [the shelter cats] because we figure somebody will adopt them and take them into their home,” said Jane Polish, co-director of the shelter.