MARBLEHEAD — If you have been looking for a reason to add a fuzzy friend into your life, June is Adopt-a-Cat month and the nonprofit Marblehead Animal Shelter has cats of all ages that are ready to become your new lifelong friend.
Shelters across Massachusetts host their own month-long events to encourage adoptions, including the nonprofit and no-kill Marblehead Animal Shelter, Friends of Marblehead’s Abandoned Animals. FOMAA was established in 1993 with the mission of caring for and rehoming abandoned animals in Marblehead. As they are a smaller shelter operated by unpaid volunteers, FOMAA runs solely on donations and animal adoption fees throughout the year.
Adopt-a-Cat month was established by the American Humane Society in 1974. It is celebrated nationally to help encourage adoptions from overcrowded shelters across America. It takes place in June as it is peak “kitten season,” where shelters generally see their highest intake of young cats.
As part of its efforts to promote Adopt-a-Cat month, FOMAA collaborates with art students at Marblehead High School to host an annual logo design competition. Winners of the competition are chosen by community members’ votes, held every third week of January. This year, Marblehead High School senior Carson Story was the winner, and his design will appear on t-shirts sold by FOMAA for the entire month of June.
Leah Bordieri, an art teacher at Marblehead High School, began working with FOMAA four years ago at the request of a shelter volunteer named Christine Kortez. The two have continued this collaboration every year since.
“This is the fourth year that we have been asked by the Shelter to design a t-shirt to help promote ‘June Adopt-a-Cat Month,’” Bordieri said. “Since the first year was a success, I have added it into the Graphic Design Class curriculum.”
Not only does the annual art competition encourage adoptions and help the shelter, it also provides students at Marblehead High School real-world experience that encourages the pursuit of art as a career possibility.
“I thought it important to include art students to showcase their creative talent and to help raise awareness for our shelter kitties,” said Kortez. “Leah and her students have been tremendous helping in that effort.”
While the students also had the option to create a logo for the Marblehead Festival of Arts, Bordieri found that this year more of her students participated in the art competition to help the cats. However, Brayden Coe, a freshman at Marblehead High School, won the MFoA logo contest this year as well.
“In general, it gives the students real-world design experience and projects,” Bordieri said. “I am happy to do it as long as they (the shelter) ask me.”
FOMAA is a small shelter that can easily make it to full capacity, especially during peak seasons. Now more than ever, it is important to check on local shelters to see how they can be aided.
Shelters like FOMAA could always use more volunteer help throughout the year, as well as more donations. On the shelter’s website, you will find a wish list that includes everything from cat toys and cat food (wet and dry) to cleaning products and litter scoops. All of these things help the volunteers at FOMAA keep the animals healthy while they await their new forever homes.
FOMAA operates a specific schedule for adoption times and requires all potential adopters to complete an application form before coming in to view the cats. The shelter’s schedule is as follows.
Viewing times at the shelter occur Tuesday 6 to 8 p.m., Friday 5 to 7 p.m., and Saturday noon to 5 p.m. Adoptions occur on Sunday noon to 4 p.m. For more information, visit the FOMAA website.
