Whiskers and Wine with Dueling Pianos on Saturday

Silent auction provides additional income opportunities

Whether you are a cat lover or not, the work done by The Cat Hut, has made a huge impact in the Hamilton County area. They provide an environment which cares for unwanted cats and kittens, helps provide new homes through adoption, and reduces the feral cat population by neutering cats brought in to cut down on unwanted litters.

The work to do all these things is done by volunteers and staff, who help trap, who provide foster homes, and who help socialize the cats who find themselves living at The Cat Hut.

But the more they do, the more people expect.

"We are booked up on our trap, neuter, release program up through November," said Sunshine Duffy, Community Outreach and Development Coordinator. "We have people every day who want to give us kittens, to surrender older cats."

The facility is full at all times, with a few foster homes available to take a few kittens, but when they are full, they are full, she said.

"We don't get any money from the government or any other institutions," said Duffy. "We are totally dependent on donations."

This weekend, the Whiskers and Wine, Comedy Night with Dueling Pianos as entertainment, is their largest fundraiser of the year. With about 170 tickets sold and 86 silent auction items, they are hopeful this will help get them through the winter.

Duffy said she is very surprised at how well the ticket sales and sponsorships have gone this year, with finances so tight in many ways.

"We have doubled the sponsorships that we had last year," she said, "I'm attributing that to board members and employees helping by getting out and contacting people."

The volunteer support and private donors are critical in keeping the operation working year round.

"Even if not able to attend (the fundraiser), community members can always donate online," said Duffy. "Even sharing posts on Facebook helps us."

The auction items are not online this year, which means only those who attend the dinner can bid on items. The effort to put the auction online last year didn't go as well as hoped, so this year the silent auction is being done with paper and pencil.

In addition, for those attending, there will be raffles and door prizes given throughout the night.

The Cat Hut operates in conjunction with Hamilton County AdvoCATes, as the adoption center. The Cat Hut is located 1118 Second St. in Webster City, and is open Tuesday through Friday from 1 to 5 p.m., and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Donations can be made on their website at https://hamcocats.org.