Lifestyle

Romeo, Romeo, Who Ya Raising Money for, Romeo?

By Karen Nichols

, March 18, 2010

If you don’t know who Romeo the Cat (photo, left) is, you should. Romeo’s blog (romeothecat.com) is devoted to micro-fundraising for animal charities. Each month he selects a different charity to be the beneficiary of his efforts.

The name of his fundraising program is FURPOWER. Some of the charities he’s raised money for include Animals in Distress in Coopersburg, PA; Kitten Rescue of Los Angeles; Beaufort Community Cat Project in Beaufort, NC; Angels for Animals in Canfield, Ohio and the Spay Neuter Action Project of San Diego.

Romeo selects the monthly organization from recommendations made by his online community so anyone (even you!) can nominate a local rescue or animal welfare charity to be the next months recipient.

The FURPOWER $1 Donation Challenge is a program that Romeo came up with to make it easier for individuals to make donations. The concept is, the economy sucks and money is tight, but even a $1 donation can make a difference, especially if a lot of people donate $1.

This month, Romeo is raising money for a very special mutual friend of ours — who isn’t even a cat!

Bailey the Bichon (pictured below) was a courageous girl who recently went to the Rainbow Bridge.

Bailey lived a long and happy life. Despite having cancer, she fought a good fight and lived for several years after the diagnosis. She was adored and spoiled by her mom, Bev.

March is Bailey’s birthday month and to honor and remember her, Romeo is holding the first-ever online Bichon Bash and supporting Small Paws Rescue, a nationwide Bichon rescue that has rescued over 7,500 Bichons in 11 years from shelters, puppy mills and surrenders. Read more about Bichon Rescue’s work here.

So if you’d like to support Romeo’s efforts, why don’t you start by making a $1 donation in Bailey’s memory? And check back every month and donate $1 to the next month’s charity. That’s only $12 a year, but if enough people believe in FURRPOWER and make $1 donations, we can make a difference in the lives of animals.

Romeo, you are, quite simply, an amazing cat — you get high fives from all my cats!