For the friends of the Independent Cat Society, a no-kill cat shelter

Fall 2015 #147

Are You a Member Yet?

Many of those of you who read our Mewsletter are active members of ICS, and we greatly appreciate all of our 600+ paid members. But we are always hoping to expand our membership base in order to reach more people in our community, as well as invite more folks to enjoy some of the benefits of being an ICS member, such as: •

Your membership dues (as well as other gifts) are tax deductible.

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Membership enables you to vote at Board elections and on other member-driven decisions.

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You will also be eligible to become a member of the Allegius Credit Union (www.allegius.org); or the Northern Indiana Federal Credit Union (Merrillville or LaPorte branches, www.nifedcu.org).

Won’t you help ICS continue its mission by purchasing or renewing your membership today? There are membership levels to fit every budget, and you can even use the clip-and-mail form on the back of this Mewsletter to send in your check payable to the Independent Cat Society.

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In addition to receiving our paper Mewsletter, if you provide your email address, you will also receive a monthly E-Mewsletter to keep you up to date with ICS news and events.

Want to sign up online? Go to the Membership page on our website, http://www.catsociety.org/membership, and use the link to select your membership level through PayPal.

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More members means better access to grant funding for spay/ neuter efforts, medical care, and other ICS shelter needs.

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Finally, you’ll have a good feeling knowing you are helping homeless cats and kittens in Northwest Indiana, Chicagoland, and Southwest Michigan find a safe haven until they find their forever homes.

You may also visit our shelter and personally drop off your membership dues, which also lets you stop and visit all the wonderful cats and kittens. Our shelter is located at 4061 S. County Line Road on the Northeast corner of U.S. Route 6 and County Line Road (Porter and LaPorte Counties) in Westville, IN. Our normal adoption hours are Saturdays from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM and Sundays from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM.

Be a member and join your friends!

Timeless Tributes Bring Life and Joy Several years ago, Mr. Fred Sobieck’s family came to visit the shelter, and enjoyed their time getting to know our loving cats and kittens. They were touched by our volunteers’ dedication to their cause, and hoped that each and every one of the cats would find a forever home. Unfortunately, recently Mr. Sobieck lost his battle with cancer, but his family honored the generosity that he always expressed in life by giving the money that they would have spent on his Christmas gifts to their favorite charity. The charity they chose? The Independent Cat Society. Thanks to you, this lovely boy and many like him have a home.

Mr. Sobieck’s memory and spirit of his generosity – along with the generosity of so many others – helps us remember not only our mission, but also allows us to keep doing our very best to serve cats and kittens in our community. With the help of kindness like that expressed by the Sobiecks, ICS has been able to accomplish many great tasks this year, including:

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The purchase of a autoclave medical instrument sanitation device in order to provide safer spay/neuter surgeries for the over 300 stray and homeless cats we help each year;

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Providing medicine and veterinary care for a number of our shelter’s special needs cats, including ICS “eye health spokescat,” Electro;

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Offering an educational workshop for community members in August, featuring Dr. Linda Harper, clinical psychologist and author of The Power of Joy in Working with Animals;

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Finding loving adoptive homes for over 200 cats (and counting) since January 2015;

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Offering assisted spay/neuter vouchers to over 150 individuals to help reduce pet overpopulation in our community.

Our cats are so fortunate to have such wonderful friends, and we hope that you, too, will think of us from time to time, just as the Sobieck family does during the holidays. Thank you for your support!

Adoptable cats, great articles, dates to remember, and more inside!