Hi, we are Suzii and Martin and we live on the beautiful island of Kefalonia. We moved here in 2016 and with our love of animals we started to help feed the stray cats in the local villages in the winter, when no tourists were around.

Then we started to receive calls and messages about abandoned kittens and poorly cats and could not resist helping them, which resulted in many of them staying as a permanent member of the family as they would not survive if returned to the streets. Over time, the number of rescues grew and in November 2021 we were 'forced' to move as the landlord was not happy with the number of cats we had.

The new landlord was fully aware we had many cats and explained the work we do and all was great, until May 2022 when the current landlord said we had to 'get rid of' the cats.

Taking care of the rescues is our passion and we were not willing to get rid of the cats as they are, and always will be, our priority, so we said we would find alternative accommodation.

As it was the start of the summer season, finding a new place for us and the fur babies was almost impossible and in August 2022 we received an eviction notice and had just 10 days to move out. We were days away from moving into a property where the landlord was fully aware of the number of cats and our commitment to help, when the landlord pulled out.

Our long term goal is to buy a piece of land and create a safe place where we can give a home to strays that need help that will not survive on the streets.

We don't currently have the savings to buy our own piece of land yet and we have been given use of a piece of land by a true cat lover, who fully supports the work we do. We have also been given an old caravan so we can stay on the land with the cats and give 24 hour care. The caravan is very old with no kitchen or bathroom facilities but we are grateful to the donors for giving us a basic shelter to get started and with the help of a builder for the day, we built temporary pens for the cats for the initial move.

Knowing that we can build our dream to help many cats, fills us with excitement. However, as winter approaches the current setup will not withstand the weather predicted. To make a safe environment for the cats currently with us (40+) and future rescues, there is a lot of work to be done, which takes time and money and that's where we are asking for your support.

We will need to:-

Weatherproof the cat pens (for individual poorly cats) €250

Build a weatherproof space for the rest of cats to keep warm against the elements €1000

Buy a bigger caravan with cooking and toilet facilities so we can live on site to care for the cats €3000-€8000

Run piping for drinking water to the structures €200

Buy a container to store cat food/cages/medication & furniture €1600

In the future we are looking to set up a solar system to generate electricity for the site to run refrigerators for meds and food as well as lighting and hot water which will be approximately €4.000 (This is a phase 2 project). In the meantime, we have bought a petrol generator costing €300 for emergency power supply.

Please help us to create a safe haven for the Kefalonian kitties and protect them from the harsh winter expected. If you can give even a pound, I know it would really help. Thank you in advance xx

Suzii & Martin