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My story

I never planned this.
It planned me.

A long time ago, on a wet evening, a half-starved cat squeezed through a half-open kitchen window. I told myself I’d just feed her and find her people.
I never did find her people.

How a kitchen became a sanctuary.

I am not a vet. I am not a charity. I am not, in any official capacity, anyone’s rescuer. I am a person with a kitchen, a kettle, a soft voice when I remember to use it, and a long-standing inability to look the other way.

The first cat — the one through the window — stayed for eleven years. She is the reason every cat after her has had somewhere to come. She showed me how to sit on the floor and wait. That, it turns out, is most of the work.

It became a calling without my permission.

The second one was an accident. The third, a pattern. By the fifth I had stopped pretending. The local vet stopped asking why I came in so often and started asking which one this time. We’ve known each other a decade now.

When Raven arrived, in 2022, everything got more serious. Her injuries were severe. Her recovery was long. The bills were honestly impossible — and that was the point at which a small handful of people online decided they wanted to help carry that. They’ve been carrying it ever since.

What you’re actually supporting.

Every euro that comes through here goes toward food, vet bills, and the colony three streets over — nothing else. There’s no overhead. There’s no salary. There’s a kitchen table with receipts on it and a person who will tell you, honestly and gladly, where every cent went.

If you’ve ever wondered whether your small donation matters: it bought the antibiotics that kept Raven alive in week three. It paid for Shadow’s carrier when he was finally ready to be lifted. It is buying the kibble in the colony bowls tomorrow morning at 7am.

Thank you for being here. Truly.

A short timeline

How we got here, in four moments.

  1. Then

    The first one

    She slipped through a kitchen window during a rainstorm. I told myself I'd just feed her and find her people. I never found her people. She found me.

  2. After

    The pattern

    Then there was another. And a third — surrendered when a family moved away. By the fifth, I had stopped pretending it wasn't a calling.

  3. 2022

    Raven

    She arrived in a state I still don't have words for. The vet wasn't sure she'd make it through the month. She did. The whole place is named after her now.

  4. Now

    A small home with open doors

    Four residents, fosters when needed, a colony three streets over that gets fed twice a day, and a quiet community of people who decided to chip in.

“You don’t need a building. You don’t need a non-profit number. You need patience, a kettle, a soft voice, and the willingness to keep showing up for whoever shows up.”

— from the book

If any of this moved you,
there are small ways to help.