In 2018 the charity found itself in a very difficult position.The premises where the charity was based, no longer allowed the charity to operate from there.
It was a very difficult time, where would the cats go that were in the care of the charity? what will happen to them ? how could the charity continue ? Social media is a very powerful tool, the charity supporters from all over the world joined together.
Award winning film director Philip Bloom travelled to Skiathos to make documentaries of the situation. This really kickstarted the fundraising to try and raise enough donations to buy land and give the charity the future everyone dreamed of. For those who have not seen these amazing documentaries you can find them here.
Donations were raised for just over a year, specifically to buy land and €160,000 was raised. The search for land began.
Skiathos is a small expensive Island for land purchases, compared to other places in Greece. There is a certain criteria when looking for land for the purpose of the charity, it needs to be remote but accessible, over 4 stremma in size in order to obtain permissions to put facilities in place for the cats, and most of all be within budget.
The charity has considered and started legal investigations and had aborted costs, on 2 plots each of which had complications which prevented any purchase. The charity has a duty of care to everyone that donated to make the correct purchase.
The search for land continues, we trawl all the websites that advertise, we speak to the local community the charity is doing everything it can.
For now, the cats are safe, based on land kindly loaned to the charity. We have incurred costs to prepare this land, the biggest cost was steel fencing to prevent the cats from roaming, provide a water supply and places to sleep. Apart from the water supply everything else can be moved to a permanent location.
The charity land search continues, with a committed team in place, funds held in account to bring the search to a conclusion. Updates are posted here, on social media and our newsletters.