The Humane Society of Morgan County has launched a new monthly event, “Coffee with Cats,” with Harvest & Honey, a catering service in Rutledge.
The recurring adoption event began in March and takes place on the third Saturday of every month.
Coffee with Cats takes place at HSMC from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., allowing visitors to interact with several cats available for adoption. The next two events will take place on June 21 and July 19.
Krista Williams co-owns Harvest & Honey with her mother and adopted a cat from the shelter several years ago. In January, she presented her “Coffee with Cats” idea to HSMC Director Miranda Johnson while catering the rescue’s “Paws and Purrs” gala.
“My wife and I are big cat people, and that’s why I reached out to Miranda,” Williams said. “So, I was like, ‘Hey, the dogs always get to go to festivals and all this, but the cats never get any of their own events.”
According to Williams, the “Coffee with Cats” pop-up stand is part of her catering business’s retail store in Rutledge. She wanted to offer in-shop coffee resources at the event for free to help “get people in the door” at the shelter.
“[The event] wasn’t really about us getting business,” Williams said. “It was just that we both love cats. We wanted people to come out and get their forever fur baby.”
Williams hopes her partnered event with HSMC will draw more people to get involved with the shelter. She hopes to continue her event but sees it as a “slow-growing process.”
“I just kind of hope more people will get involved with Humane Society, whether through donations or volunteer work or just buying gala tickets to help fundraise more,” Williams said. “I think it’s awesome that they’re able to find these animals’ homes and even bring them to bigger shelters to get adopted.”
Currently, the HSMC sponsors adoption fees for adult cats. Kittens are available for $100, and the rescue also offers $25 off a second kitten when they are adopted together. So far, the HSMC has had two cats adopted from hosting “Coffee with Cats.”
“I hope that people start seeing the advertisements more around town and on our social media,” Johnson said. I don’t know if we’ll have any in the fall since that’s Harvest & Honey’s busy time, but we might try once a quarter.”
Johnson hopes the shelter’s tortoiseshell feline Chloe will be adopted at the next event. The five-year-old cat has been in the shelter for about six months and was previously at a shelter in Macon.
“Once a month, I take cats and kittens up to Atlanta Humane to be adopted out because we just have such an influx right now, but she hasn’t been on that transport yet because she was so shy,” Johnson said. “But really, within the last two months, she’s come out of her shell much more, and she actually can be in the room now with all the kittens.”
Johnson looks forward to hosting the event to help educate the community about the importance of adopting cats. She said the shelter is struggling more with cat adoptions due to the overpopulation of strays in the area.
“I want [the event] to grow into community cat education because so many people around here have problems with cats in their area reproducing,” Johnson said. “[Coffee with Cats] is going to be something we try to grow. But Harvest & Honey is gracious enough to supply all the coffee and everything. It’s awesome.”