Allie Johnson lives in North Hollywood, by way of Texas and Colorado, but she says Los Angeles was immediately her “heart’s home.” Allie has been doing cat rescue for more than 50 years but only learned about Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) in the last two years ago. So she was thrilled to learn about FixNation’s services when she received a flyer during community canvassing in North Hollywood at the end of 2013. She immediately signed up to take the free trap-training course provided by FixNation to learn how to catch and care for the colony of 8 community cats she was nurturing. Attending the course was a big step for Allie, who suffers from agoraphobia, an anxiety disorder that is characterized by the avoidance of open or public places.
While in the training, FixNation staff member Ivy Ramirez mentioned that 40 new traps had been received at FixNation, but couldn’t be put into circulation because there weren’t enough trap covers to go along with them. Trap covers are necessary to keep feral cats calm when in the trap. Without a cover, cats can become agitated and injure themselves trying to escape.
Allie was inspired to help. Sewing trap covers was something that she could do from the comfort of her home but still help cats. It seemed like the perfect way for her to volunteer. She requested a pattern for the covers and went home to get started! After working through all of her own fabric, Allie began calling neighbors and friends. Before she knew it, she had recruited and empowered a team of trap cover volunteers– five ladies and one gentleman now meet monthly to sew trap covers for FixNation while enjoying each other’s company and a lively chat on a Saturday afternoon.
The first batch of 20 trap covers was presented to FixNation this month (including the Easter inspired cover pictured here) and another 10 are in the pipeline with plans for many more to come. Allie’s goal is to present an initial 50 covers to get the new traps out into the community, and also retire some of the older covers, with 12 more covers sewn and delivered each month to maintain FixNation’s stock.
Are you, like Allie, inspired to help? Do you have fabric to donate – old towels, sheets or other material, if so, please deliver it to the FixNation clinic, address inserted, during regular business hours (Wed-Sat, 7am-5pm).
If you’re interested in starting your own Trap Cover Project Team, email volunteer@fixnation.org for fabric and patterns.
