When I left off, Kerry was moaning, "how long will it be until we can fill this jar with $20s?"

So let me tell you how YOU have saved me - and gotten Kerry out of jail.

IT WAS MANY DAYS AND MANY NIGHTS. The volunteers worked on every fundraising project they could think of, they did bake sales and yard sales and begged in the streets.  The staff worked long and hard and even donated from their paychecks.  They even did silly things like dress up in silly costumes in hopes that you'd smile and send a buck.

Vincent was teaching me the fine art of pick pocketing. He said he wasn't tall enough.  But those delicious green things just never made it into the jar.  That's not bad is it?  I mean they're green and green things are to eat right?  And MMMmm so delicious!!!!  I think 20s are far more tasty than 1s, what do you think?  If you haven't tried a buck on whole wheat, ummmm, with a dab of peanut butter, ahhhhh   .....    Send more green food !!!  Yummmmmm.

Anyway, where was I, I always seem to get distracted day dreaming about food.  Cindy Wright came to work on Saturday.  She's in charge of Doggy Downs and all the feeding and scooping and scrubbing and cleaning and barking and walking all day every Saturday. Cindy came up to the office and said, "Nanny, you need to do something about ... that .. well ..  that cat ..  Kerry ... in the dog runs.  I can't work in there listening to her whining and fussing.  Can't you get her out of the dog runs?"

Like what do you think I've been doing?  I've been working my tail off trying to get Kerry out of jail.  What do you think I do all day?  Sit around and chew cud!  I'm begging and I'm pleading.  I'm opening the mail - you know how hard it is to hold an envelope opener with hooves???   Huh lady???  I'm logging in the donations - you know how hard it is to type with hooves?  Huh?

"Well," said Cindy, "I'll do the mail and type in the donations if you want to go walk the dogs!"

No, No, some of those dogs might bite me!!  I'll stick with the mail.

A while later Cindy was back here in the office.  "Nanny, you really have to DO something with Kerry.  She's made such a mess in the dog runs!  Can't you get Officer Lena to move her to Piggy Paradise or something?"

Oh for heaven sakes!  You want me to stop chewing cud to fill out a form in triplicate - do you know how hard it is to write with hooves??  Huh??  Do you lady???  Then go petition Officer Lena.  You want ME to get yelled at for bothering her?  Me!!  Why ME?

"Because you're in charge Nanny!  It's tough being at the top!", Cindy replied, "So you're telling me the only way to get her OUT of dogs is to fill that donation can?  Then tell me know how much there is to go."

Ok, take your shoes off.

"What?  What do my shoes have to do with this? You afraid I'm going to track in dirt into this mess of an office?" retorted Cindy.

Listen Lady, if I'm in charge then why don't you just listen up!  Take your shoes off.  I can only count to 8. And the buttons on that darn calculator are too small for my hooves.

And so Cindy took her shoes off and with her 20 (Wow impressive huh? Even Vincent only has 18!) and my 8, we counted up and we were $456.00 short of getting Kerry bailed out.  And you know what??  Cindy handed over the bucks!!  I heard her mumbling, "Let's see, if I skimp on groceries ...  I think I can make it."   Wow, that's big bucks!!!  I ran to find Valerie and dropped in Cindy's bucks. THANK YOU THANK YOU CINDY !!! for making up the final donation to fill up that jar!  Now Kerry can pay off that feed bill and order yet more food for that fat cat Vincent and the FCC - Fat Cat Club.    And a big thank you to all of you who helped me get Kerry out of jail!!!  I love you all !!!!  Every one of you!!! Cindy gets a sandpapery kiss as she cringes and is thankful to get Kerry out of Doggy Downs!!!!

Back in the office Kerry yelled at me, "Where did this pile of ... come from?  I can't even SEE my chair!  The amount of paperwork I have to do is bulls.... but I never imagined !!!!!!   Nanny, call the cat food delivery man!!  Tell him we can pay him off!!!  Get more food before all those cats find out I'm out of jail and they're out of cat food!!! Who's got a shovel?"

AHHHHH!!!!  WHAT A RELIEF !!!!!!!!! I can't wait for the day I can tear up ALL of Rikki's bills!  If you think this economy has hurt your family of 1 or 6 or 12 or 19 or 37 or ....  you should see what it's done tomy family of1209!!!

Raising the funds to pay off this debt is one small step for a goat and one giant leap towards the economic recovery of Rikki's Refuge!!!! Thank you donors for saving the day - and the cats!!!!  And all our lives.  No matter how small, each of us owes our very existence to YOU!!!!

Way to go, Joey! Chomp 'em up and eat 'em away!!!!  Joey has the right idea of eating up that debt.  In the next few months that will be our goal to pay off ALL the debt and make Rikki's debt free and in the black !!!   Thank you great big huge thank you Barbara White for setting us in the right direction to make this possible!!!

It's a work-out at Rikki's Refuge unloading thousands of pounds of food, litter, bedding and all kinds of supplies, every day, day in and day out.  With the cat food bill paid off, we're back to unloading a ton - no kidding, that's 2,000 pounds - of cat food!!!!  One box at a time.  The members of the FCC will be eating it - one morsel at a time - until it's all gone!!!

Days like this make me glad we have human caretakers to do the dirty work for us animals!

Lots and lots of food for the Fat Cat Club
Hey Vincent!  Take a close look!!!   The last laugh is on YOU!!!!!

Just as the Judge ordered: take that, Vincent, you cat you, you fat cat you!  We love you Vincent !!  Anyway or in spite of !!!!!

Curtain Call
Vincent?  Vincent?  Where are you?  Don't you have some Community Service hours to do?  Why aren't you here helping to unload all this CAT food?

Kerry Hilliard as .. Kerry, Lena Stocks as Animal Control Officer, Darryl Adams as The Professional Judge, Joe Fox as The Professional Veterinarian, Valerie Fast as The Professional Cat Specialist.

Off stage: Nanny T. Goat as Queen of the Office and Ruler of the Municipality of Rikki's, Vincent D. Cat as head honcho of the FCC, Mister Mister as Treasurer of the FCC, Mr Darcey as Secretary of the FCC, Jack as The Nice Dog, Duke Thomas Peabody as President of The Canine Club, Bruce Johnson as The Professional Delivery Man, Lloyd Dolan as The Professional Referee, Kerri Williams as The Professional Photographer, KiKi as the Barber's Victim, Joey as the Bill Destroyer, Cindy Wright as the Dog Diva, Velvet as Kerry's Best Friend, Little Joey as the kitty with poo on his toes (what did I do to deserve such a lousy role?).

We hope you enjoyed this interactive production of Rikki's Refuge's "Funding for Dinner" Theater and we'd like to remind you that no animals - other than humans - were injured in the making of this skit!!!   We'd like to thank you for your participation in buying a month's supply of cat food for Vincent and friends!  Yes, Vincent, you DO have to share!

Thank you Nanny T Goat for taking care of the office and the refuge for me and for working so hard to get me out of jail.  Work party this weekend, come help shovel out my office!  Bring BIG shovels!!!!

Thank you all you donors who made Nanny's work of saving me possible.

And Thank all of you who gave Nanny such a wonderful Birthday Party on her Birthday Open House. So many wonderful people came out to the Refuge Birthday Party and Open House.  I hope you had as much fun visiting us as we had with your visit!!

Ron collects more cat food
Ron Herfurth - Rikki's official Director of Serving Cats - rounds up a WHOLE truck full of cat food at the Birthday Party.  Kind and loving people brought all kinds of goodies for the animals.  A truck load of cat food, a truck load of dog food and lots more!!!

AIDEN AND DILYAN MAKE A BIRTHDAY WISH

Dreaming of a day when all the kitties of the world are this happy and safe.

It's a dream you are making come true - one kitty at a time - when you support Rikki's Refuge, the largest no kill kitty sanctuary on our favorite planet !!!!

THANK YOU FOR BEING THERE FOR ALL OF US AT RIKKI'S REFUGE
Your support has given us life and hope !!!