Bake Sale Success! (and Introducing Nero)

What a great morning Joa’s Arc had at Bill's Wonderland of Pets!!!

After setting up our tables of information, scarves & baked goods and saying hello to the various kitties volunteers brought along with them, we had some visitors before we were even technically started at 11 AM. One of those visitors happened to be Rick C, Gibson's guardian angel (along with his wife Robin C, Gibby's #1 fan). It was Rick C's low riding car that Gibson smacked into all that time ago and it was Rick C who stopped his car instead of continuing on to work, saved little Gibson from the road and got him medical attention. Needless to say, this was a very emotional meeting because not only was Saturday Gibson's first public appearance with Joa’s Arc, but as you may know Gibby was just medically cleared and, after everything he's been through, is ready for adoption. I believe their adoration for one another is quite obvious in this photo Robin C took of the two boys together.

Another very special person came in as well to visit the Joa’s Arc crew. These two wonderful children are HUGE fans of Nennee! Huge, huge fans ... so much so that Stephen, the kind boy holding Nennee in the photo, has been doing all he can to raise money for Nennee's future surgery. So far Stephen has raised $142 dollars which he lovingly donated to Joa’s Arc Saturday. He made a can to set out in his dad's store, Kitchen Kapers in the Cherry Hill mall. He's hopefully adding another can at a different store location soon too! It was so nice for all of us to be able to meet Stephen at this event and to see his face when he got to meet Nennee.

Stephen is Nennee's hero and there's a bit of a back story as to how Stephen came to know about Nennee. You see, Stephen's family's kitty cat at home is a handsome black cat named Fozzy ... and who is Fozzy??? Fozzy happens to be the loyal and loving brother of our forever loved Joa who inspired this entire organization. Fozzy was Joa's protector while they were surviving outside on their own. So, in a long, round about way, we at Joa’s Arc have yet another reason to be thankful to Joa!

Look who else Nennee got to meet - the oh so popular and lovable, Elwood!!! That's right, the picture has me, Jen W, holding Nennee as she sniffs and checks out Elwood in the arms of his momma, Karen. It is no secret that Elwood is a big supporter of rescue efforts and Saturday he came out with his big brother, Montana the German Shepherd, to support Joa’s Arc. We were all pleased as pie to have them join us - along with Facebook friends, blog post readers, other rescue volunteer supporters and board members and the kind people shopping who stopped by.

Joa’s Arc had another kitty with us too at Bill's Wonderland of Pets: Nero the neurological cat from Camden County Animal Shelter.



Nero has been deemed "special needs" because of his condition: Cerebellar Hypoplasia. However, Nero is really just special. He uses his litterbox like a normal cat, plays like a normal cat and loves love like a normal cat ... he just sort of walks on his tip toes and occasionally tumbles over. Most importantly though, his condition will not worsen. This is the way he has been since he was most likely a kitten (we're really not sure since the poor guy was found wandering the streets of Camden like this) and as far as he knows, he's a regular cat - a handsome one at that too. Nero is for adoption through Camden County Animal Shelter. Please inquire there about adopting him.

Above is just another great photo from the day of Joa’s Arc supporters! We sold lots of cookies, cakes and yummy bread that day, along with some scarves and toys too. Aside from all the fun we had and all the great visitors, we were lucky enough to make a total of $374 that day too!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone for making it such an absolutely wonderful day.

To cap off this wonderful update, Bill's Wonderland of Pets will be allowing Joa’s Arc to do another fundraiser! Sunday, February 7, 2009, from 11 - 2 PM Joa’s Arc will be there selling scarves, jewelry and hopefully some chocolate covered pretzels. Keep in mind this is exactly week before Valentine's Day. Pretty jewelry for a good cause - I'm not sure there are better gifts of love for Valentine's Day than that!! Tweet This