It’s currently Volunteer Week in Australia and if you didn’t know that was a thing don’t worry, you’re not alone, neither did I. But now that we do know of this let’s take moment to give a huge shout out to all of the fantastic volunteers who help make the Cat Cuddle Cafe what it is.

Without these wonderfully generous people donating their time and energy the CCC wouldn’t be the same. As you probably know we are a non-profit charity meaning we are not in a position to be able to pay wages for everyone who helps out at the cafe, that money is devoted to feeding, homing and paying for the expensive vet bills for all of the kitties in the Pussies Galore Rescue system (at the time of writing this we have about 100 furbabies that need to be taken care of until they find their fur-ever home).

But that lack of payment doesn’t stop these incredible people who volunteer with us, so again, a huge thank you to those fantastic human beings!

You might be wondering what the volunteers at the CCC do. Well firstly you have those in the Cat Room itself, these are the people who you would have met if you’ve ever visited us. They take care of any cleaning tasks that are needed and as this is a place of eating with around 18 kitties at a time you can imagine how important and extensive cleaning can be. They also help make sure all of our guests have a great time by answering any questions they might have.

We also have an Op Shop next door that requires volunteers to sort through and categorise all of the wonderful treasures that we have. And there are a lot of treasures, every time I’m in there it’s a struggle to spare my wallet. So next time you’re visiting the CCC for some cuddle time why not visit the Op Shop too? You might find something incredible

Beyond that, we have tonnes of other tasks and events like our Thursday fun-raising events in the room or our stall at the vegan markets that need extra hands to run and that’s where our volunteers come in.

I took a moment earlier this week to speak to Karen, our wonderful Tuesday morning volunteer about her thoughts on her 6 months at the CCC so far. She let me know that she has had a great time with the best thing about it being meeting everyone. And that includes the Cuddle Stars and the humans too. And I completely agree with her, I love spending time in the room and chilling out with the kitties and I’ve also met some truly amazing people during my time at the Cat Cuddle Cafe, people who love what they do, work hard because of it and can have some laughs along the way.

I’ll close this post out with a final shout out to the amazing woman who coordinates all of the volunteers at the CCC. Kim is truly an inspiration, on top of a full-time job she dedicates her time and energy to voluntarily taking care of rosters and all of the logistical nightmares that come with coordinating 50 or so people. If you want to volunteer yourself you’d send an email to catcuddlecafe@gmail.com and the wonderful woman who would respond would be Kim. So again, Kim, you do a fantastic job and the CCC wouldn’t be the same without you, thank you for all of the effort you put in. And thanks to all of the other top volunteers who give up their days to help the CCC carry out its mission of saving cats.

Taz