This afternoon, as I was making my daily round of the shelter, I stopped to spend some time with one of the kittens in our intake room. Shefron, a cute little tabby cat can usually be found hiding on the shelf in his kennel. When he sees people, this tiny 2 lb kitten starts to flatten his ears and hiss. He throws on his most ferocious face, trying to scare all danger away. Yet, every time I slowly reach in to pet him, he relaxes. And then purrs. And then leans in for more. Shefron probably feels about me the same way many of us feel about 2020. We want to scare it away by any means possible, but when we lean into it, we learn its not that bad. Don't get me wrong. 2020 has been filled with phenomenal challenges. But, KHS has met them head on -- with YOUR help and the help of our entire extended community. We continue to hold our own on our dog population. We have a few that have been with us for a few months now -- like sweet girl Malasada - but, between fosters and adopters, we have been able to maintain a reasonable shelter population and an over 90% live release rate! Cats -- and KITTENS -- remain a continual challenge. When I arrived in October 2018, we ended a policy of euthanizing all kittens under 2 months old and 2 lbs in weight. These were the very animals that needed us the most. Kittens we could socialize from an early age and turn into wonderful indoor pets! Fast forward 2 years, and we have cats and kittens galore! The challenge is not saving them. The challenge is finding them homes. In prior years, we regularly sent more than 50 cats and kittens to the mainland every month to find adoptive families. But, with the lack of flights between Honolulu and the mainland -- let alone all the way to Kauai, these opportunities are few and far between. There IS light at the end of the tunnel. We are working on a huge private transfer opportunity that we hope will come to fruition sometime in October. (Here's hoping I don't jinx it by sharing!) But, we could really use some cat and kitten fosters who can help us care for these amazing animals while they wait for their chance to fly to a home. Email our foster team or visit our website to learn more. Like many other businesses and nonprofits have experienced, 2020 has been a challenge financially for KHS. We had to cancel our gala, Paws for Celebration, which is normally our biggest fundraiser of the year. Although we were lucky enough to receive PPP funds, those have been used up. And, now, just two months into our fiscal year, we are are facing a monthly deficit -- unable to make up the revenue lost from lack of Direct Release clients, boarding clients, and other travel-related income. We are committed to getting through this, but we need YOUR HELP to do it! Please, if you can support us, we need your donations now! And, be on the look out for upcoming virtual fundraising events! Mahalo on behalf of all of Kaua`i's Animals, | 
