A Birthday Wish and Surfcat

Several years ago for my birthday, my boyfriend asked me WHAT would I want to do more than anything for my special day.  Like any cat-obsessed human in their right mind I said “I want to pet kitties”.  And so began our search for a suitable birthday activity of my wildest dreams that led me to Surfcat.

My wishes led us to a Google search which pointed us to the Surfcat website. Pen in hand jotting down their number, I excitedly dialed Surfcat and reached who I soon would learn was the enthusiastically kind and patient executive director of the organization, Leslie.

I couldn’t tell you how many calls she gets a day (pre-Covid) of goofy gals like me who just want to pet a cat with no intention of adopting, but she treated me as if I was the first person to ring her with that request and she was so very gracious to me.

I told her of my birthday wish (yes, I am over 30, but I still make wishes!) and she invited me down to their next adoption event which was the following weekend.

I visited Surfcat at the Ventura Pet Barn as Leslie was holding an open adoption event for kittens.  I carefully removed my shoes and entered the kitten pen into happiness. I was so overjoyed to have the time with these furry little bundles of love and also to have the time to learn more about Surfcat.

Leslie and I hit it off instantly; we had started following each other on Instagram (@MikaHarmony). I am an artist, a watercolor painter by trade, and wanted to find a way to help get involved using my artwork.

My relationship with Surfcat then evolved through the years as I started to donate a portion of every sale to Surfcat. Then I was donating cat stickers to Surfcat to give away at their street fair events, until all the way to today many years later where I am showing up to volunteer creating graphics and writing blog posts for their website.  All of this from a birthday wish.

It has been such an honor to participate in and support Surfcat’s mission of saving our most vulnerable kitty friends.  It was incredibly moving to see the work Leslie did in our County saving the affected kitties during our Thomas Fire disaster. I am so grateful we have Leslie to do the special work she does saving these cats.

I invite you to learn more about Surfcat and volunteer your time, or even just follow along on Instagram and receive their regular emails. It has brought me such a sense of fulfillment that even though I can’t adopt any more kitties, I can still be of service to this very special non-profit organization and the special people who run it.

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