On a recent Saturday, a park pavilion in Ringoes, NJ overflowed with staff and volunteers from Tabby’s Place. The reason for the gathering, an annual tradition, was gratitude. Yearly, the staff hold a picnic to revel in volunteer milestones, accomplishments, and hard work. There are currently over 500 active volunteers. All of them give their time, energy, love, and more to help realize the mission of saving cats from hopeless situations.

Among the many reasons for celebration this year were over 33,500 hours of work performed and very many kittens fostered. Awards were given for longest distance traveled, most distance driven (Yes, that’s a different number. Hint: one volunteer is a pilot!), number of fill-in shifts covered, and mentorship provided. Years of service were also honored: 5 years, 10 years, 15 years, and, yes, 20 years! Your eyes do not deceive.

There are Tabby’s Place volunteers who have been loving the cats for as long as Tabby’s Place has been operating. Some of them are no longer active, but there was one fabulous volunteer at the picnic who has been there since the sanctuary was basically a toddler. Another fabulous volunteer piloted a flight across an ocean to reunite a person with their beloved cat (Refer back to that bit about distance traveled!).

Awe is an insufficient word.

Gobsmacked is closer to the mark.

It is beyond an honor to serve side by side with so many devoted volunteers. It is humbling to bear witness to such kindnesses performed in the service of cats. It is delicious to be celebrated with 60 feet of love, plus all the trimmings.

Did I mention the picnic part?

This year, we were treated to 10 six foot long (And goodness knows how wide and tall!) sandwiches along with green salads, pasta salads, veggies that weren’t in salads, fruit, dips, condiments, cookies, cake, brownies, and, of course, the magnificent blueberry squares baked by the one and only Sharon Rosenberg, whose kindness toward one stray cat made 23 years of history possible. Yes, that cat was Tabby.

We volunteers are grateful to Sharon for adopting Tabby.
We are grateful to Tabby for sitting in Jonathan’s chair.
We are grateful to Jonathan for turning a corn field into a cat sanctuary.

It is a warm and wonderful thing to be appreciated for the service we do at the sanctuary. It is an inspiring thing to be reminded about how much service we collectively and individually perform. It’s pretty cool to share a meal that includes 60 feet of sandwich and ample portions of love with such an impressive group of individuals and to be counted among them. It’s pretty cool to be able to spend time working with such fabulous people along with the cats we all adore in a space that is very truly a second home for many of us.

The ark that Jonathan built is far beyond a shelter. It is home to the cats that live there. It is impressively proportioned in order to serve these cats that had no other options. As October approaches, so do the anniversaries of the original building and the grand opening of Quinn’s Corner, the addition that allows Tabby’s Place to be home for cats that are FeLV+.

Nearly every corner of the expanded building – from the medical suite on one end to Quinn’s Corner vestibule – is filled with cats that need food, fresh water, clean litter boxes, medications, supportive health care, hygienic care, and much more. With a limited number of staff, volunteers do as much of the heavy lifting as possible, so staff hours can be focused on those things that volunteers cannot do. The staff notice. They appreciate what we do as much as we appreciate them and everything they do.

It is a love-love situation.

It is a hopeful situation.

Quantifying such a situation is difficult. For simplicity sake, let’s go with sixty feet. It’s as good a place to start as any.

In case you’re interested, here is a list of things that demonstrate how 60 feet can measure up.

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