Michael Cruickshanks and students stand next to one of the Cat Haven homes they built.
NEWBERRY — Cat Haven Development is revealing the first of what will be many houses for homeless cats on Friday, October 27, at the Newberry Career Center (3413 Main Street).
The idea for homing homeless cats came about a couple years ago when Cashia Gauci noticed stray cats around the Newberry Recycling Center. In 2019, she invited her Girl Scout Troop, Troop 990, to build a couple types of houses from totes, making sure they insulated the small, one door home. That same year, they delivered the houses to the Newberry Recycling Center.
“But it’s not enough,” said Gauci.
In October 2022, Gauci spoke to Newberry City Council, advocating for supplies and/or monetary donations to help with the building of cat homes, providing shelter as the winter months began. She also explained that a centralized cat colony would help spaying and neutering efforts, since all the cats would be in one spot.
A safe place for cats to congregate also means less cats going to the shelter and facing euthanasia. It also helps the environment since indoor/outdoor cats and homeless cats are considered one of the most non-native invasive species. Cats have contributed to the extinction of 33 species of rodents, birds and reptiles. It’s important to spay and neuter homeless cats since it will keep the overall homeless cat population down, helping the environment while also preventing cats from spreading diseases to one another and keeping them out of roadways by giving them somewhere to stay.
Earlier this year, Gauci delivered two more insulated, wooden Cat Haven homes to the Little Mountain Recycling Center. In September, the students at the Newberry Career Center built and painted two more cat homes with four separate compartments for them to stay. Each door has plastic flaps for wind and rain protection, Styrofoam insulation for warmth, shingles and can shelter multiple cats at a time. The building of the houses help teach young adults and students to learn how to work together and build empathy.
One of these houses will be unveiled on October 27, at the Newberry Career Center. The house will be painted by Ricardo Ramirez of Octopus Ink. Other businesses that helped with the homes were Kirsten Ward of Sherman Williams Paint, Austin Willingham of Willingham and Son’s and Michael Cruickshanks and students of the Newberry Career Center. Others have been invited to the unveiling, such as Mayor Foster Senn and Chief Building Inspector Wayne Redfern.
Come out and see the new houses for the homeless cats of Newberry!