At Save Our Cats and Kittens, also known as SOCKS, cats are a big deal. The facility, located in Fort Walton Beach, houses 75 cats when at capacity and finds foster and adoptive homes for hundreds of kittens and cats per year.
Surprisingly, not only does the non-profit raise most of its funds for the facility via an onsite thrift store, but the organization is also run entirely by volunteers. Nancy Schimmer, the Executive Director of SOCKS, said that even though the non-profit is in its 30th year of service, very little support and funding is available for the cat-centric charity.
“Funding, that is always the biggest need, followed by volunteers,” she said. “We are also working to bring public awareness of the overpopulation of cats in this area. We have an enormous problem in Okaloosa County, that people don’t seem to know about and there are literally hundreds of people taking it upon themselves to take care of and fix feral cats in the community.”
In addition to finding homes for cats, SOCKS works to capture feral cats to spay or neuter them and then re-release them into the community if they are healthy.
“This county is in dire need of a lower cost spay and neuter clinic,” Nancy said. “We provide a transport service for our cats to either Dothan, Alabama or Panama City to get fixed. We arrange, schedule and pay for it when we have the funds through Blooper Animal Transport.”
As luck would have it, this year, Jason Hall of Five-Channels got wind of the great work SOCKS was doing in the community and decided to lend a hand. Quick to action, Jason grabbed his team from Five Channels and donated time to upgrading the adult cat room and installing luxury cat furniture for the older cats to enjoy.
“Five Channels is devoted to supporting organizations that support our local communities,” Jason said. "Because SOCKS champions compassionate care, and actively promotes population control and health awareness in our feline communities, we will continue to support them."
To learn more about SOCKS or donate to their cause, visit www.saveourcatsandkittens.com.
