On Sunday Jan. 28th, local residents gathered at the Hillcrest Jewish Center to attend a kitten adoption event hosted by Queens-based rescue MeowSquad NYC.
The event, held in partnership by Council Member James F. Gennaro and Assemblymember Sam Berger, connected cat lovers of all ages to nine furry felines looking for their forever homes.
During the adoption event, eager residents got a chance to interact with the friendly adoptees and spend one-on-one time feeding and petting the kittens.
Natalia Trapani, the communications director for Gennaro and a MeowSquad NYC volunteer, spoke about the importance of adoption events.
“We have a lot of wonderful super friendly cats here today. MeowSquad in total has about 100 cats, we have a headquarters in Howard Beach, and we also have many cats with different fosters across the five boroughs,” Trapani said. “Even if we have just one adoption that will be a success, and if we can bring awareness in the community and let them know there are rescues out there.”
Two of the cats, Penguin and Theo, found their forever families at the start of the adoption event.
“We definitely looked online, and she was very cute and sweet looking. We applied for Penguin and she’s our lady,” said Kristen Muray, Penguin’s new owner.
For many of the MeowSquad NYC volunteers like Paul Ferris, their love of animals led them to the organization.
“I’ve been with Meow Squad since 2020. Someone posted on Facebook that this is a great cat rescue. They needed volunteers and I slowly got roped into doing everything under the sun for them which I’m more than happy to do because it’s a great organization,” Ferris said.
A few of the of the attendees—including Theo’s new parents, Jerry Christal and Alia Hodge—are repeat adopters through the agency.
“This past summer, in August, we adopted two cats from MeowSquad. They are so great, the cats were amazing. This organization was a delight to work with, they are communicative, I have their personal numbers,” Christal said.
One of the two cats they adopted over the summer passed away, and the couple felt supported by the organization during their loss. “They’re great, I feel like now we know them, and a cute little community has been built. It’s great to know that already two cats have been adopted in the first hour of the event. Hopefully they have more events like this, and more cats get taken in,” Hodge said.
When they felt ready for a new kitten, the couple originally planned to adopt Theo’s brother, Luca. However, at the event, they quickly ended up falling for Theo’s personality. “We just came here thinking we will meet Luca and see what other cats were here and we just sort of gravitated to this one,” Christal said. “He is just so energetic and friendly,” said Hodge.
Foster and Adoption Coordinator Diana Alvarez felt it’s important for people to know how far community support goes in supporting their organization.
“We can’t do this without the community’s support, we get a lot of requests and calls to support cats. In reality it takes a village to make it happen. If people are willing to help by fostering and donating, we can make bigger things happen,” she said.
For more information about MeowSquad NYC, visit their website here.
