MEOW Cat Rescue (aka Mercer Island Eastside Orphans & Waifs) is a no-kill cat shelter located in Kirkland, WA in the greater Seattle area of Western Washington.
MEOW, a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit since 1997, places between 800 and 1000 animals into permanent homes each year.
MEOW (Mercer Island Eastside Orphans & Waifs)
Our Mission
With respect and compassion for all animal life, MEOW promotes lifelong relationships between people and companion animals, providing shelter and care for each precious life until adopted into a forever home.
Our Vision
MEOW envisions a day when society will be free from the dangers and nuisances of irresponsible pet ownership, when every pet born will be assured loving care all of its natural life and will never suffer due to abuse, neglect or ignorance.
Our History
In the early 1990s, a small group of animal-loving friends made a commitment to create a better life for homeless animals. With little more than determination, they started MEOW, a non-profit organization with a no-holds-barred no-kill philosophy. MEOW is staffed almost entirely by volunteers. It’s still all about the animals.
Our Goal
MEOW’s goal is to help create a “no-kill nation,” where people are responsible for their pets, where there are no helpless creatures abandoned in boxes or left to fend for themselves in parking lots, where there is no longer a need for any healthy companion animal to be euthanized. There are many worthy organizations and individuals working toward this end. The rescue network is communicative and non-competitive. Certainly, progress is being made. But there is so very far to go.
Today
MEOW, a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit since 1997, places between 800 and 1000 animals into permanent homes each year. Adoption fees from $65 to $125 help defray the cost of care for the animals. Donations from interested individuals, organizations and business provide additional financial support.
Our application process ensures that every adopted animal is placed in an environment where there is appropriate space, human contact, and a commitment to safeguard and care for the animal for its entire lifetime. Our standards are high. The welfare of the animals is paramount in the placement process.
Cats and kittens come from various sources and situations: orphans found under a deck, an abandoned cat crying at the door, pets no longer able to stay with a family because someone has developed allergies or is moving to a place where the cats are not welcome. Some come from the rescue community, finding tame cats and kittens feeding with feral colonies. Newborn or senior, healthy, ill or injured, all are valued at MEOW. Incoming cats and kittens are examined for general health, illness, injury, parasites and tested for feline viral diseases and provided appropriate medical care.
Daily care of cats and kittens is done both in the shelter and in the foster homes of volunteers, sometimes involving bottle-feeding orphans, often requiring intensive medical care of ill animals. MEOW provides a safe haven and socialization as well as proper nutrition and a clean environment while the animals await adoptive homes.
Our volunteers speak with the public, interview prospective adopters, and provide education concerning the care of pets on such subjects as spaying/neutering, introducing a new pet into the family, addressing behavioral issues, proper daily care and well-cat/kitten care.
Each year MEOW is faced with the impossible and each and every day we recommit ourselves to something we truly believe in, the motto we adopted at our inception, “all nine lives are precious.”
Important Tax “Stuff”
MEOW is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit. Our tax ID is #91-1743911. Our legal name is Mercer Island Eastside Orphans & Waifs. We do business as MEOW Cat Rescue or MEOW. Donations made to MEOW are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Board of Directors
Board President
Joni Cervenka
Employer- Farmers Life Insurance, Retired
Residence – Seattle
Board Member Since 2004
joni@meowcatrescue.org
I became involved with MEOW in 2003 when we were on Mercer Island. Over the years I have volunteered in the shelter, fostered over 100 cats and kittens, and participated in offsite events. Currently my primary focus is fundraising. I share my life with my husband Paul, five MEOW cats and one MEOW dog.
Board Vice President
Kelly Starbuck
Employer- Starbuck’s Towing, Owner
Residence – Mercer Island
Board Member Since 1997
kelly@meowcatrescue.org
I’ve been a part of MEOW’s history since the beginning. I love all animals, but I found that my calling was helping dogs, Chinese Shar Pei in particular. I run the Canine Division of MEOW. We rescue all breeds, but MEOW provides the only Chinese Shar Pei rescue for WA, ID & OR . My husband and I are owned by 3 MEOW dogs and on any given day we house about 10 foster dogs.
Board Treasurer & Executive Director
Bonne Vevea
Residence – Redmond
Board Member Since 1997
bonne@meowcatrescue.org
I’m proud to have been a Co-Founder of MEOW Cat Rescue. It is my pleasure and my privilege to continue to be involved with MEOW on a daily basis, working with our excellent staff and devoted volunteers. My husband and I share our home with eight MEOW cats and litter after litter of foster kittens. I have a particular fondness for animals with special needs.
Board Secretary
Steve Hendrickson
Employer- Boeing
Residence – Bothell
Board Member Since 2004
steve@meowcatrescue.org
I have had the pleasure of being involved with MEOW since 2003. It didn’t take long to realize that this was a very special shelter/rescue group that I very much wanted to be a part of. Our family has fostered hundreds of kittens over the years and each has been very memorable. Additionally, I have done some trapping and help manage several feral sites. We currently have six cats and a revolving door of foster kittens.