Friends of Roman Cats is finishing its first year with our 501 (C)(3) assured.  Thanks to lawyer and board member Lynn Coulston, our dream of helping cats abroad has become a reality.  Our Board members besides Lynn are Linda Brinen, Kathy Dadey, Mary Kennedy and Susan Wheeler.  We have all been active in cat rescue, cat socializing and other cat related work.  Two of our Board have cats from Rome.

A little about the inspiration for Friends of Roman Cats: our main impetus stems from Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary in Rome.  Most of our Board members have been to Torre Argentina,  and have been delighted by cats nonchalantly lounging among the Roman ruins and sunning themselves on top of ancient brick walls   We are inspired by the fierce dedication and hard work  of the Italian and foreign volunteers who in a few years have made Torre Argentina the closest thing Rome has to a Society for the Protection of Cats. 

As we came to look closer, we realized that Torre Argentina does not exist in a vacuum.  Ten years ago Italy became a no kill-nation, a nation where it is illegal to euthanize healthy cats and dogs.  As cat lovers, this policy intrigues us.  It sounds like a more humane solution than euthanizing cats to 'protect' them from a life on the streets.  The Italian law gives cats and dogs certain rights. (You will soon be able to find a translation of parts of this law elsewhere on our website.)

Unfortunately, we know there is a darker side to the picture in Rome as elsewhere.  Every year greater numbers of cats are abandoned.  Many Italians stand opposed to spaying and neutering cats, particularly male cats. The municipalities are supposed to provide spay/neuter procedures for  homeless cats, but such programs have been almost completely ineffective. Torre Argentina and a few other groups have been  waging a resourceful campaign to get more spay neuter.

Our goal over the last year has been to decide where we can most  effectively make a difference in Italy as well as in the U.S.  We have had some great board meetings, helped along by Italian coffee, cheese and biscotti.   At times we have felt adrift trying to understand how differently things work in Italy.  We are still making discoveries.  We have also needed to educate ourselves on how to run a nonprofit organization. We have made great strides.

Since we wanted to know more about successful low-cost spay/neuter programs, Mary, Kathy and Susan participated in a Spay/Neuter Day last March held in Berkeley by the organization  “Fix our Ferals”.  This is a monthly program to which people can bring the feral and homeless cats they care for in to be sterilized.  It is staffed by volunteers.  We believe programs such as this and the similar one run by the Feral Cat Coalition of San Diego can be exported abroad. 

In April 2001, Mary Kennedy attended a conference in Virginia entitled "No More Homeless Pets".  She came away with many helpful ideas on running an animal related nonprofit.  In May, Susan Wheeler attended another conference entitled "Kinship with All Life".  The consensus of this conference was that recognizing our connection with animals is of great importance to helping humanity deal with the various and difficult issues it has to face.  At about the same time, Kathy Dadey made some good contacts with SPAY USA and the Doris Day Animal Fund.

In early September the San Francisco SPCA generously gave us a booth at their annual Animal Wingding.  We auctioned off a basket of Italian food, and, with the combined monies we raised, were able to send $400 to Rome to begin a spay/neuter program in conjunction with Torre Argentina.

In October and November 2001, Susan and Mary were in Rome.  They both spent a good deal of time at Torre Argentina.  Susan attended a day long discussion of "Ten Years After the Animal Laws of 1991, Where Italy is Now."  It was taxing on her Italian, but she came away with a greater understanding of both the successes and failures of the no-kill legislation.

Boardmembers Mary Kennedy (L) and Susan Wheeler (R) visited Rome during Fall 2001

Susan also wrote a letter to be sent to all the embassies in Rome, asking them to become more involved with the feral cats living near their embassies, and urging them to both feed and spay/neuter these cats. She also had several discussions with a vet in Rome who does low cost spay/neuter, as well as participating in strategy sessions with Silvia Viviani and Lia Dequel, the founders of Torre Argentina. Cat Sanctuary and members of our Advisory Board.  Together we watched a video about low-cost spay/neuter done by the Feral Cat Coalition of San Diego

When we returned, we were delighted to hear from the Internal Revenue Service that our 501 status had been granted.  Thank you, Lynn, for shepherding us through a difficult process.  Soon after, our website became a reality,  thanks to Mary Kennedy and our web gurus Judy Bell and Roseann Hirshman.

Now at the end of the year, we are looking forward to the FORC party "Celebrating the Blessings Animals Give Us" to be held toward the end of January 2002 (see Events).  Some of the projects slated for next year are applying for grants to help with a spay/neuter program in Rome, creating an an intern program where American veterinary students and others can spend time helping in Italy and setting up a Cat Lovers tour of Italy. 

We have also added our two computer experts, Judy and Roseann to the Advisory Board along with Lisa Camasi, an expert on low-cost spay-neuter programs.  We are indbted to Scott Holder and his wife Sandra, for setting up a database for us and helping us with donations over the internet . We thank  the English artist, Rosamund Clarke for allowing us to make cards out of some of her lovely Roman cat paintings.  Our everlasting gratitude to French artist Muriel Escop for sending her beautiful etchings for our auctions.  Thank you everyone who has donated to our auctions.

We are looking  forward to this next year as a time when the plans we have made over the last twelve months get put into action.  We are thankful to all those who have offered support and encouragement.