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Start Local is focused on helping businesses and non-profits in and around Chester County, Pennsylvania, connect and grow together. Our aim is to bring together the many folks that make up our wonderful community in greater Philadelphia to share and learn from each other.
The Start Local podcast features interviews with business and nonprofit leaders from in and around Chester County, Pennsylvania.
The Southern Chester County Chamber of Commerce partners with the Start Local podcast to promote trade, commerce, industry, and sustainable economic development while supporting a diverse, growing marketplace.
Learn more at the Southern Chester County Chamber of Commerce website, sccccc.com.
Hey, hey, welcome to the Start Local Podcast.
I'm Liam Dempsey, and I am flying the podcast studio solo today.
I have all the controls all to myself.
My colleagues Eric Goodmanson and Joe Casabona were both called away on podcasting emergency, so to speak.
So I am holding down the fort solo today, and I am very pleased to sit down and speak with Christine Bainey.
Christine is the executive director of Tree Tops Kitty Cafe.
I'm going to say that one more time.
Tree Tops Kitty Cafe. Yes, that's a thing. And the cafe is a free roaming cat rescue
located in the wonderful borough of Kennett Square. Christine, welcome to the Start Local Podcast.
Hello. Thank you so much for having me. Very excited for this.
Yeah, I am too. I am too. For folks out there listening, I should share that maybe a couple
of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to pop down to the cafe and get to visit for the first time.
And oh my gosh, it is a very special place, but I don't want to get ahead of myself.
And I should be very clear that I am not a cat person. I'm not anti-cat, but I am allergic to
cats. But I just love the place. It was fantastic on so many levels. So let's start there. I'm going
to ask you to talk about the, and tell us about the Tree Tops Kitty Cafe. You're on State Street,
right in Tennant Square.
The cafe is a shelter for cats in need of adoption.
So walk us through the cafe.
What can folks expect when they walk through that door of the cafe?
Absolutely.
So when they come into Treetop's Kitty Cafe,
best of all, they can expect to spend their time with the cats, of course.
We are an open room, about 1,200 square feet.
All the cats are free roaming unless they're in isolation
due to some medical concerns or what have it.
But we have an average of 18 to 22 cats, self-serve drinks.
We have a small retail section.
And most important, we just hope everyone has fun just meeting the new cats, spending time with them.
And best of all, every visit is a donation that goes towards the cat's care.
Yeah, let's just clarify that.
It's not a cafe like a coffee shop where you can just pop in.
It's much more of a make a donation, come in and visit with the cats.
And if you want, you can put a couple of bucks in a jar to get a can of soda or buy a Keurig.
It's not a cafe in that sense if people are looking to get a latte with their cat petting opportunities.
Oh, yeah.
You're 100% correct.
It's kind of like a cat vibe.
It's very relaxed.
It's more of a lounge.
But we do not have a permit to have food or beverages, to serve you beverages.
So it's more of a lounge, I would say, just to hang out with the cats and to get to know them.
Tree Tops Kitty Lounge.
Now there's a vibe.
There's a vibe.
So the Tree Tops Kitty Cafe was founded in 2006
as a nonprofit focused on wider animal rescue, not just cats.
In 2017, the organization opened the kitty cafe
and pivoted to focus really on cat adoption.
Tell us about that evolution.
Why did the organization open a cat cafe?
And more specifically, why did it narrow its focus
really just to domestic cats?
So it actually just happened naturally.
And they started out mostly foster base.
And there was a pet store in our current location called Paws and Claws.
And they had a few cats that would stay in the pet store.
And the customers just loved coming in, spending time with them.
So when the pet store closed down, the owner decided to make part of it a cat cafe and just evolve from there.
And it's just a little bit easier, I would say, to have probably regulation-wise and just manual labor-wise
of cats to care for versus dogs and other animals.
Yeah, well, speaking of regulations,
there's got to be rules and state guidance on running an animal shelter.
Tell us about how many cats you can have at the,
I won't call it a shelter, at the lounge at any one time.
So it's funny we get that asked,
but that's a question we get asked frequently.
I believe we're allowed to have up to 28 cats.
Don't quote me on that, but to be fair to the cats
and their different personalities,
we tend to have an average of 18 to 22 cats
just based on who was at the cafe at the time.
So I was reading on your website,
reading your mission statement,
and it's longer than we have time to read,
so I'm going to hopefully summarize it,
and you'll correct me if I've done a good job or not.
But as I interpreted it,
your mission is to rescue adoptable cats
from high-kill shelters,
to give them the care they need
and help them feel safe around people
in their cage-free cat cafe.
So ultimately, you're working to find each cat a loving permanent home.
But tell us how you find and take in those cats in need.
That's a great question.
So we work with local shelters in the area and different rescues.
We do work with one group further down south.
But typically, we just build a relationship with the shelter.
They know what our deal is with the open room and free roaming cats.
So they, especially if they have a good candidate for the cafe, they'll let us know.
Sometimes we have no clue what type of kitty we're getting or their personality.
And other times we, if we have a particularly, how do I say this, a spicy group of cats, we might ask for a certain personality.
So it kind of all depends on how the group of cats are.
More recently, we have been pulling from ACT or ACCT in Philadelphia, which is something I'm very passionate about.
and treetopses as well, that we pull animal or cats off of the timestamp for euthanasia.
So it's kind of their last chance, and we love stepping in and helping them,
whether it's behavior needs, medical, whatever the timestamp is needed,
we're there for them if we can help.
Can I ask, are you proactively calling these different shelters,
or are they reaching out to you, or is it some of both?
Hey, we have some space.
Is there anybody you'd like us to think about?
Or are they calling you and saying, hey, do you have any space?
We have some little feline friends that could use your help.
So it is a mix.
It's a mix.
For ACT, we mostly seek the cats out from them, but we do have other shelters, the smaller rescue groups especially.
If they do not have the capacity to help them, they might reach out to us as well.
But it kind of all depends on what rescue and the cats.
It's always changing.
Yeah, I would expect.
I would expect.
So when I was in your shop a couple of weeks ago, I saw T-shirts at your store.
and I've since noted that these are also available for sale on your website, folks, so listening.
So the t-shirts are wonderful.
They read, cheaper than therapy, and then your treetop skiddy cafe logo is right below.
And when we were in the cafe, I had the chance to meet and chat with some of your regulars.
You have regulars, which kind of blew my mind.
I mean, it makes perfectly sense once I kind of got my head around it.
But they're paying money to stop by and spend time really with the cats.
I mean, sometimes they were chatting to you, but mostly they were talking to cats.
So aside from those looking to adopt a kitty cat, tell us about who comes into your cafe.
And I guess more importantly, why?
What do they get out of it?
So that's a great question as well.
We do have a variety of clientels and different regulars.
It seems like the most common would be there's an allergy in the family to cats or someone who rents and is not allowed to have cats.
We have a few regulars that just love following the different journeys and seeing them start to being adopted.
So that kind of all depends.
One thing I do find very, the one thing that shocked me when I started here at Treetops was a lot of our regulars are males.
For some reason, I kind of just assumed, and I shouldn't assume, but I thought they would be female supporters.
But a lot of our regulars are males, and a lot of them just are not able to because of renting or allergies.
So it's a great way for them to just kind of come in.
Everyone can kind of go at their own pace with the cats.
So it is very therapeutic.
And with a variety of cat personalities, you can pick to cuddle up with a cat or just giggle and play with them.
So it's always changing.
It's always different.
But it's great to see the public interact with the cats.
That was wonderful to witness to see these people coming in off the street,
So I literally have trying to strike up conversations and relationships with these little cats.
So the folks that come by often enough, you're calling them regulars and the like.
I'm wondering, what do you call your residents?
What do you call your cats?
Do you have a phrase or a word that you use to refer to the cats that are living with you?
So apparently, I just learned this recently, the correct terminology for a group of cats is a clowder.
So I tend to call them a clowder, but of course, I feel like every cat parent would agree.
Every cat there has a nickname as well.
So just once you learn their personalities, you just form different nicknames and attribute it to that.
The cats at Tree Tops Kitty Cafe are literally allowed to go everywhere.
And I was there, you showed me around all the places, both front and back.
So where you're organizing things and cleaning supplies and food supplies
and all the things you need to run a proper cat shelter.
So they could go back there and then up into the retail spot
where someone could buy a t-shirt or a little cat food
or what have you, a little gift.
And then, of course, the cafe area itself.
Moreover, they have the place for themselves
really from the time you close until you or one of your colleagues
opens up in the morning.
So the question is this, Christine.
Tell us about the biggest chaos that the cats have caused in your time with the cafe.
Because we know cats cause chaos, right?
Absolutely.
The question is, how bad was it?
Tell us about it.
So there's a few memories that pop up now.
I would say the scariest and the largest mess they made was one of our shelves in the back rooms.
They jumped up, and I guess the weight of the cats was just too much, and the shelf fell down.
So that was scary, but we always do have a few cat trees toppled over sometimes.
You can tell when they're really partying, when there's cat litter everywhere and the food is just all over the floor.
Really partying.
Yeah, you just, you wonder what they're doing.
And then there's sometimes what I think is the cutest and maybe the saddest at the same time is some of the clingy cats that just really like to be cuddled.
And you can tell they really love their human.
They'll drag their bed or their blanket around, and you'll find them in different odd spots of the cafe.
So you can tell that they were probably out meowing for some affection that night.
So just a variety of different adventures for them.
Do you have cameras so you can come in in the morning and sing,
It's that same kitty. She's always doing that.
I mean, we just knew where it was, but now we have video footage.
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
I have to make a note to stop watching the camera actually at night because it became quite addicting.
But there was one cat in particular, because they can hear me.
I can speak on the camera as well.
And I like to joke there's one cat, actually two cats, their brothers, Brennan and Dale, and they like to mark the walls.
And there have been a few times on the camera that I'll catch them getting ready to mark.
And I just all of a sudden go, Dale, Dale, I see you.
And he'll just stop, just stop what he's doing.
And he knows, he knows, and he'll run away.
That's hilarious.
That is hilarious.
Let's go back to your website again.
I was looking at that in advance of our time today,
and there's a section on the website that sets out in a very clear way
the skills and expertise that you're seeking for in board membership,
whether it's financial skills like accounting and the like,
or marketing, or all sorts of different skill set.
And it was very clear and very direct.
We're looking for these skills to join our board.
And it struck me as a very direct and hopefully helpful way
to get the support you need in your board and any board needs,
but you're being very deliberate about that.
And I'm curious, has that straightforward approach
helped attract good leaders to your board?
I absolutely do believe so, yes.
I think out of all the years Tree Tops has been open,
I think this is our most active and supportive board.
And I am very proud of our board.
They're very passionate about Tree Tops mission.
But it's something when I first joined Tree Tops,
it's something I did want to make sure we had an active board
because it is a lot of work and it's a lot of emotion
and you need that group, that core to support you and the cats.
So I'm very proud of our board.
Can I ask if you've had board members join
since you put up those very clear guidelines
about what you're looking for?
Yep, I would say I think about half of our board right now is new in the past year or so.
And we're actually currently looking for two new members.
Excellent.
Well, we'll be sure to link to that specific page on your website,
and we'll link to it on the show notes over at startlocal.co.
That's startlocal.co.
The cafe, as I understand it, has five employees.
Is that right?
And four.
Four, she says with her fingers quietly.
Yes, excellent.
So do you and your colleagues and the four of you, does that include you?
Yes, it does.
Okay, so including you, there's four.
So do you and your colleagues handle all of the tasks and the responsibilities for running the cafe and the adoption service?
Are you able to rely on any volunteers to help carry out some of that workload?
Okay, so the volunteers are the backbone of the organization.
They come in twice a day, help with the care for the cats, the cleaning, just even building that relationship with the cats so they know a familiar face.
That's huge to the cat.
That means a lot.
So they definitely help take a large load off of our shoulders.
And a lot of our volunteers do foster and just stick with us during events, just keep up with us.
Some of the volunteers have been volunteering for five or six years, so they definitely have stuck with treetops for a while.
But the everyday in and outs, running the cafe, that is more of a staff position.
And then we do have one person that's in charge of helping with fundraising.
So a mix, but the volunteers, without them, we would not be treetops.
So what is the funding structure for Treetops Kitty Cafe?
How does the nonprofit raise money to support the cats?
I know you have a little retail shop there,
and I know folks can pay to come in and visit the cafe and get some quality cat time.
But talk us through that.
Oh, yeah.
So like you said, every visitation that is a donation that helps support the cat rescue.
We do have about two to four large fundraisers every year.
The donations from the community are the main fuel for treetops.
And we do have a monthly kitty keeper club.
So you can be a monthly supporter for treetops.
Outside of that, we have events inside the cafe and larger events outside.
For example, the Mushroom Festival is coming up pretty quickly here.
So based off, those are our main, outside of,
we do have one person that does grants as well and fundraising.
But the largest support is from the community.
So tell me about what you do at the Mushroom Festival.
Do you just have a table and raise awareness kind of thing?
Or are you actually able to get some homes?
I mean, clearly you're not going to hand them over right then and there.
But are people coming down and starting the process right in the middle of the mushroom festival?
Oh, yeah.
So last year we actually, Holmes, one of the cats, he was pretty new to treetops.
And he was adopted from a visitor from the mushroom festival.
So it's a great exposure.
We had a large support from the mushroom festival community that came in that weekend.
So I can't remember how many adoptions we had from the mushroom festivals,
but I do remember Homes was one specifically.
But just great exposure.
We also have a parade here in Kennett.
Tree Tops was part of the parade last year.
So anything to get the word out,
we're very proud of the Tree Tops community and Kennett Square.
It's a great, great community.
It is a wonderful community down there, yes.
So I'm going to ask you one more money question,
and it's really about the cost of safely housing and feeding
and providing medical care for a cat on a daily basis.
And I appreciate it's a little bit of how long is a piece of string, right?
Some cats will have more medical needs than others.
But is there a way to kind of average it out?
So what does it cost to maintain a cat there at the cafe?
So it's pretty shocking, I think.
It's about $25 per day per cat.
And then so that averages about $750 a month.
So in general, for all the cats currently, it's $450 a day.
And then to break it down, so our adoption fee, which is $150, that covers about six to seven days for one cat.
So we're not really profiting off of the adoption fee.
Again, it's mostly community support.
But yeah, cats can be quite picky and quite costly.
But we love them.
So we expect that some kitties come to you with medical issues,
and some might even come with significant medical issues.
And with that, we expect that you're going to rely on the services
and expertise of a local veterinary practice or two.
If so, can you share with us who are Tree Tops' go-to vets of choice?
So we swear by Pocopson Veterinary Station.
They had a relationship with Tree Tops now for a couple years,
and without them, I'm not sure we could continue with the medical care that we need for some of the cases.
Just for example, last year we had one kitty that became a tripod, so his one leg was amputated.
And we've had, I think, one or two kitties that had to have eye removed.
So it's quite a journey for those cats and it can be quite costly and Pocopson is great.
I mean, there are times when I can text them with a question,
which I shouldn't put that out there
because they probably don't want text from all their clients.
But it's nice to have that support where I'm not sure if it's an emergency
or if they need care, I can quickly just send a message
and they'll get right back to me.
And they're great. They're very supportive.
Yeah, that must be really helpful because, you know,
I expect your knowledge of cats is pretty deep and pretty thorough,
but cat care and cat veterinary care are different realms, aren't they?
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
such a variety at different times. It can be quite a lot, but like I said, thank God we have a
Pocopson vet there. So I'm kind of curious with 18 to 22 cats, are you making daily shuttle runs
to the vet? Is it like, oh, it's Thursday morning. Let's get all the little kitties that need to go to
whatever it might need from the vet. How does that work? What are the logistics around
literally herding cats to go to the vet? It's funny you ask that question because I
I was questioning if I actually had to reschedule today's recording because there was a little bit of a cat emergency at the cat cafe today.
He's okay.
He's okay.
We got word back from the vet.
But honestly, to backtrack, when we do get a new kitty, depending on their age, if it's a senior kitty, we like to take them to the vet just to get a senior panel done to make sure everything's good, checks out for their age.
If they're healthy, then that's great.
If not, we might have to, you know, depend on if we can find a foster or what we can do to treat them.
If they're younger kitties, we typically just base it off of their health.
But on average, I would say we're there anywhere, visiting the vet two to eight times a month.
And it's pretty regular, but they're great.
They work with our schedules.
And we, I mean, knock on wood, we've only had to go to emergency.
Yeah, we've only had to go to emergency care once this year.
So that's the scary part is because that's the financial unknown and you just don't know what's going on with the kitty.
But, yeah.
Thank you.
So let's talk about you a little bit.
You joined the cafe about 18 months ago.
A review of your LinkedIn profile shows that you have worked in animal care and animal welfare for most, if not all, of your career, Christine.
So the question is this, is what about caring for and supporting animals?
speak so strongly to you?
So I would say that was my main focus
through my career was to stick with animals
in that realm.
I feel like I'm a little bit
a hippie view in this way
that I do believe every animal,
every person has the right
to live on this earth.
I think we were born for a reason
and I just think since humans
are a little bit smarter,
we got the arrogance in us
to believe that we have certain controls over animals or, you know, labeling them a rodent,
whatnot. So in my mind, I thought we just needed more animal welfare. We needed more
voices for the voiceless. And at the end of the day, even when I'm tired, you know, if I'm just
not feeling well and I see an injured animal in the back of my head, the one question that always
goes through my head is, what if that was you?
What if that was your mother?
What if that was your friend?
To me, that is someone's mother, that is someone's friend.
We just don't know that relationship
because we're not that specie.
So I just very much, anyone that needs any kind of help
or anyone to be their defender, I'm there.
I got your back.
Well, that leads into our next question.
So thank you for that lead-in.
When you and I were chatting previously,
I asked you about your hobbies and your out-of-work interests.
And to be candid here, your first response was just to laugh out loud.
And you're laughing in the background now.
You went on to explain to me that because your friends and the people in your community know you are such an animal whisperer, such an animal lover,
that you regularly get called on to help sick and injured animals in your area, regardless of the species of the animal.
And it sounded like regardless of the daytime or night.
So I guess the question for you is,
what's the cutest animal rescue you've ever supported or been involved in?
I hate to say this, but the cutest and most memorable
is actually a kitten stuck in the hood of a car.
Outside of cats, though, outside of cats,
there's one story when I did live down south.
We were driving on a busy highway and on the side of the road was a beagle, a hunting hound, and he was a puppy.
And so we turned around, we picked him up and come to find out that he was a hunting puppy that was being trained.
They had driven two hours to train the pack of dogs.
And apparently it's very common for hunters to, if the pups do not make it back in time, the hunters leave them behind.
So we ended up taking him in.
He was adopted out to a new family after, of course, the previous person signed off on releasing the puppy to our care.
So to me, that sticks in my mind because it's a puppy.
It's a baby.
It didn't know what to do.
It was just sitting on a highway waiting for someone.
And then outside of the puppy, my second answer, most amazing thing I've ever experienced is a hawk, a wild hawk was injured.
It actually ended up just healing with just some therapeutic or homeopathic drops.
But because of that, he remembered my kindness, I'm assuming.
And he actually befriended me.
He followed me every day to work, would sit there and wait for food.
So it's something that's a core memory that I'll never forget.
Oh, my gosh.
Yeah, that's amazing.
That is so cool.
It's called Littlefoot.
Oh, you named it?
Yeah, it looked like a little dinosaur when he was walking around.
Yeah.
I feel like I could start a podcast and just focus on Christine's animal rescues.
Oh, there's so many.
Episodes and episodes and episodes and episodes.
If you had to break it down, and I'm asking you to kind of think anecdotally,
how many times are you rescuing animals during reasonable hours
versus getting called by friends and family at three in the morning that says,
I just found, I heard this animal crying outside my house.
And can you come help?
because it happens all at all hours of course a lot of people do not reach out at night because
they're afraid to wake me up and I always that's one of the things I scream over and over again is
please do not do not worry about that I am here you know even if I'm sleeping I'm happy to wake up
and help because the big thing is if that animal is injured and it disappears the likelihood of
finding the animal again is very, very low.
But oddly enough, I would say a lot of rescues have been during,
you know, what you call like typical business hours.
And I think that also is because people are out traveling more during those hours
and just with the daylight, you can spot more.
But that's a blessing in its own way because, you know,
the other rehabbers, wildlife care centers, they're open during those hours.
So it makes it easier for the animal to get immediate care.
So I'm going to switch gears a little bit away from animals and talk music.
Because you shared in our previous conversation that your favorite musician or artist is Hans Zimmer,
the acclaimed film composer and producer.
Two questions for you.
What is your favorite piece of music by Hans Zimmer, if you have one, if you can narrow it down?
And why film scores?
What about that genre holds your attention so closely, so dearly?
I love Hans Zimmer.
I even named my car after.
It's called Hans.
It's a German car, too.
And thank you for naming your car.
We name our cars in our family as well, so it's nice to meet another car namer.
Love that.
Absolutely.
So what caught my attention with Hans Zimmer was actually the Gladiator soundtrack back from the 2000 era.
And even to that day, I would say that, honestly, is probably still my favorite score by him.
My favorite song, Song, is the name of it is 503.
But I think his music speaks to me because sometimes, you know, especially at the end of a busy day, just the voices in a song can be a little overwhelming.
So it's to me, the music is very emotional without the lyrics.
So you can create any kind of emotion from sad, happy anger, and you can feel that in the music.
So to me, that reaches deep down to me.
And it's just something I think that it's also very inspiring because, I mean, how do you create that?
You know, that's what I'm always intrigued.
How do you come up with that?
You know, it's just amazing.
So when you're listening to it, are you a headphones listener or do you have it on the speaker?
Is it filling your home or is it just filling your ears?
That depends on the song, actually.
Luckily, the car that I'm driving, it has a great sound system.
So you'll often hear just Hans Zimmer blaring through Kenneth Square.
If you don't know that's me by now, it's me.
But yeah, it's a great way at the end of the day for me to relax.
So if it's not the drive home, then I usually do just play it through the sound bar at home just to get that bass going too.
Yeah, I appreciate that.
So perhaps to the chagrin of cat lovers in our audience here, I have to ask you, tell us about your affection for dogs.
Are you a dog person too?
I am. I do. I love all animals the same.
I, of course, tend to love cats a little bit more, but I would love to have a dog myself.
I only have two cats right now, but honestly, my schedule, it just would not be fair to the dog.
I don't have a set schedule. I'm all over the place. I'm forgetful.
But at the same time, I think to me, I don't know how to word this nicely without offending the dog people.
To me, I think the reason cats are a little bit more pulling at my heartstrings is because when people see a cat outside, right,
they might assume that that cat is just a stray, a feral.
You know, it's okay.
They're not too concerned.
But if someone sees a dog outside, it's, well, what is this dog?
You know, it needs help.
Let me get, you know, let me put this online and see if I can get it help.
So to me, it's, you know, that cat could potentially be a lost cat, but it's being overlooked.
So I think that's honestly the only thing that makes the cats a notch above.
Yeah, yeah, I'm with you.
Cats as the underdog.
Yeah, that's a good way to put it.
Christine, you're originally from Kennett Square.
And as we've been talking throughout this entire show,
you work right there in the borough, right on State Street.
And you live locally as well.
So what do you enjoy most about living and working in and around Chester County?
And I guess I'd kind of emphasize both living and working.
So you're doing it both.
Talk to us about that.
Well, it's actually funny.
When I was a kid, I didn't realize what I was surrounded by.
I wanted to move away from Kennett.
The grass is always greener on the other side.
So I did move away, and then I realized I was a fool
and that Kennett Square was great.
So I love Kennett Square.
It's between the grassy green hills for the beautiful drive
that you have to the community, honestly.
That's what drew me back is everyone here,
it's very family-oriented.
They're very proud of Kennett Square
and being the mushroom capital of the world.
And it's just, it's a very, very kind group of people.
Something that I think it's very rare
to find a cluster of people that are just so kind.
And then of course, you know, growing up,
I grew up a mile away from Longwood Gardens.
How do you compete with Longwood?
I mean, that's
Yeah, well said, well said.
So I love it.
It's a great, great community.
And especially with the Mushroom Festival,
I think it's a great event to just spotlight the town
and let people know what we're about.
And do you like mushrooms?
Do you eat them regularly?
There's only one or two that I like.
I'm a very, very picky eater.
I'm kind of like a cat in a sense with food.
I'm very picky with certain things.
But I do like the typical white mushroom,
whatever that name is.
I'm all for that.
Sounds good.
Sounds good.
So let me ask you,
to tell us about a local business or nonprofit
that more folks should know about.
So one group we actually connected with recently,
it's Cherry Blossoms Vacations.
It's a group that actually will pay for,
everything's covered, all expenses,
for families with a disabled child.
And they are in a few different locations,
but I just never heard that concept before,
and it's someone we met recently,
and it's something I think should be spotlighted more
families have a difficult time as it is, especially now in this economy.
But to have a disabled child and to just think about even just a vacation,
the things that they need to bring along and the care,
this group provides a lot for them.
And to have the expense covered, that's a huge help for the family.
So it's something that's very inspiring and very,
I'm proud to say that we met them recently.
And can I ask if they are locally based?
It's funny because I believe so.
I'm not sure their exact location,
but I don't think they're directly in Kent Square,
but I believe they're somewhere within the half an hour radius.
Okay, well, that's great.
Thank you for sharing about them.
We will be sure to link to their website over on our show notes page
over at startlocal.co.
That's startlocal.co.
So I want to ask you, because having visited the Kitty Cafe,
And not to say that I'm looking for a new job, but if I had to work somewhere else, are you hiring or are you at the very least looking for more volunteers?
I wish we were able to afford more employees, but just being on a limited budget, we are maxed out with employees right now.
But we are always, always, always looking for volunteers.
Like I said before, that's the backbone of Treetops.
And the main thing I love with the volunteers is how they build the relationship with the cats.
So they have a familiar face every week to see them.
So if anyone is interested for volunteering, we are always open-arm welcoming them to Treetops.
And is there like a volunteer's information on your website that we should direct them to?
Oh, that's a great question.
Thank you for plugging that.
Yep, if you go to Tree Tops website, we have different links for just making reservations, volunteering, more information.
And of course, the cats are featured on there as well with their own profiles.
Yes, they are, and I love their profiles.
That's a good way to spend at least a few minutes in an afternoon is to read profiles of my cat neighbors.
It was awesome.
I really enjoyed that.
So, Christine, you and your colleagues and your board members and volunteers down at the Tree Tops Kitty Cafe are doing a lot to help our little feline friends and find homes and to help the community by giving the community a place, a very peace-filled, quiet place to go in and spend time with cats, but also spend time with ourselves and our own thoughts.
And it's a place for reflection and the like.
So with that in mind, how can the community support Tree Tops Kitty Cafe?
The most effective way, and every rescue will scream this, is to donate towards Tree Tops Cause.
We have a monthly donor club, the Kitty Keeper Club.
Outside of donations, volunteering, coming to our events, visiting the cafe, supporting the events outside of the cafe.
Even just following the cat's journey on Facebook or social media and liking, following, sharing.
I mean, all of that, it's just, it's great support for the cafe and just the cats and the treetop mission to help save cats.
Christine Bainey, Executive Director of Treetops Kitty Cafe.
Where can folks connect with you and learn more about your wonderful cafe and the cat adoption service?
The best way to learn more is to visit our website, treetopskittycafe.com, or visit our Facebook, Instagram, TikTok page.
We like to try and make daily posts just to keep everyone updated on the cats and their journeys.
And we're going to be starting a live stream series soon, every Tuesday.
And we actually do have a current series, Tales on Tour, where we take a cat out in a stroller.
So if you live in Kennett Square and you see our stroller with our little cat flag, definitely stop by and say hi because we're out exploring.
I love that. I love that. I'm curious, are these your ideas?
Are these one of your team members who came up with these live streaming and taking cats on the strollers?
I just love it. It's just great content. It's really fun.
Thank you.
How did you come up with that?
So the stroller tour, I honestly was just trying to look to connect with some of our neighbor businesses.
So the concept is we go to different businesses.
The first one was Forage Books, which is newer to Kennett.
Just to have exposure for the cafe and for the business and just see how the cats do, honestly.
Especially some cats just need a little bit more enrichment.
So taking them on these little journeys is a great way to see if they would be a great cat on a stroller.
And that's also a great way to advertise them with adoption is, hey, this cat loves stroller walks.
If you don't want to take your cat in a stroller walk, then I don't know who can find another cat for you, but I think that's pretty cool.
So honestly, just anything to try and just spotlight how goofy the cats are.
They're different personalities.
So it's always, always in my head, just trying to think of different crazy ideas.
Yeah, I love that.
I love that.
We'll be sure to link to your website and your social media outlets over on startlocal.co.
Christine, thank you so much for joining me here today.
It's been an absolute pleasure getting to visit the cafe,
spend time with you there,
and then connect with you again here on the podcast.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much for having me.
The cats and I are very grateful,
and we hope we've inspired you to spend more time with some kitties.
You have indeed.
You have indeed.
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