Today we’d like to introduce you to ReGina Edmondson.
Hi ReGina , it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
When I was a little girl, my family had a neighbor that was a cat hoarder. Him and his wife would even tell the people that came to visit them that if they didn’t want their cats or kittens, they could bring them to their place and drop them off. Just like the people that dumped their cats, I had no idea what was really going on. My siblings and I would be playing outside, and these adorable kittens would show up. We would have the best time playing with them and holding them and petting them. We would be so disappointed when it was time to go inside for dinner because we wanted to stay outside and play with cats all night long.
Morning wouldn’t come soon enough and when we would finally get to go outside, our excitement would turn to horror and sadness. We would discover that the beautiful fluffy kittens that were so alive the day before, would be laying in our yard, dead. Their fur oily and slick. Our dad would go try to talk to the neighbor but, he really couldn’t get through to him and no one in town seemed to care. The cats were carrying diseases they could not be cured of and just by walking on our grass, they were spreading it.
This went on for years and not one person ever tried to stop it besides my dad.
I eventually grew up, got married and moved to the next town. As I got older, I started looking into what the man and his wife were doing. I found out it was called hoarding and not only was it inhumane, but it was also illegal. As an adult, I tried to do something about it and couldn’t get anywhere with anyone. The man literally had thousands of cats inside his place and outside of his place and people were dumping cats and kittens there on a weekly basis.
They didn’t know, and most didn’t care they were bringing their animals there to die. Mixing domesticated cats and feral cats and of course there were possums, racoons, foxes, coyotes, stray dogs, rats and I’m sure more wild animals that I didn’t even know about. My mother was still finding dead cats and kittens in her yard, and it always upset her just like it did us when we were kids. And that didn’t change just because I had grown up. I was sick of it. People thought the man was a hero for taking in all of those unwanted cats. He was just a man that chose to ignore the fact that he was doing something very wrong and very inhumane.
As time passed, my mother became very ill and I chose to sell my house and buy the house next door to her which meant that the hoarder was now my neighbor once again. I was a grown woman now and was not about to tolerate his inhumane behavior and when the day came that my son almost stepped on a dead cat in our driveway, that was it.
I walked over to talk to him and both him and his wife proceeded to cuss me out and threatened to call the law on me if I didn’t leave their property. Okay. Yes, I had to leave but that didn’t mean it was over.
I contacted several humane organizations and only two got back with me. They came out and talked to him and of course he threatened them too. I thought okay, we have our work cut out for us.
When the cats started working their way over to our property, I started humanely trapping them and taking them to the vet. Sadly, many didn’t even make it out of our driveway. They were gone before i could help them. We first trapped ten, twenty, one – hundred and finally one thousand and I have to say that I don’t believe that I have ever cried so hard in my entire life.
Each cat had either an incurable disease, a blood disorder, heart or kidney issues, broken bones that were never properly tended which gave them a deformity of some kind. One cat was born without an eye. The list could go on and on. Every cat had a story that I used to wish they could tell me before they were gone. I felt defeated, disappointed and disheartened. There was only myself, my son and my mother trying to help all of these cats and kittens. I tried as hard as I could to get help but, no one responded to any posts that I put out asking for help. We trapped and trapped, and I didn’t think we could ever get ahead in getting them all caught and vetted before more were dumped.
One evening I decided to hide and wait so that I could catch people as they pulled up to dump their cats. Some drove away the minute they saw me heading towards their car. The ones that didn’t drive off – actually listened to what I had to say.
I asked them why. Why were they dumping these innocent animals here where the others were sick or where they would fight or be hurt? Why?
One woman was crying. She didn’t really want to dump her cat and it’s kittens but, they didn’t have the money for vetting and her cat was sick. They didn’t have the money for food for themselves and their children. They didn’t think they had any other choice.
Well, I grew up in a home with two parents that never turned away a stranger or stray. They fed everyone that came to their door. Who was I not to keep that tradition going?
I asked them if I helped them with food and vetting and other basic needs if they would really keep their cats and kittens? I mean really keep them, not just say so and think I would never check to see. They promised they would. I got their information, and I delivered food and supplies to them, and I took their animals to be vetted. I took their dog too. It took a while to help her husband get a new job because he had lost his when the small company he had worked for had shut down. I helped them find free adult education classes. I helped them to find the resources they needed to move forward and to be able to keep moving forward. Their cats stayed at home and continued to stay at home until one by one they passed away. That was back in 1998.
Back then I couldn’t get the cats, the couple that had lost their jobs and had no money off of my mind How I was raised just kept popping into my head. My parents gave people more than food. There was a kindness, a comfort and the feeling of having a soft place to land when life got hard. The more I thought about it, the more I felt like this was it. This was what I was born to do. I had kind of been doing it all of my life. Helping animals, helping people. Why not turn it into a nonprofit that would not only keep the values that my parents instilled in me going but, it would be kind of like keeping their legacy going.
I filed out the documents, and the next thing I knew, I had created a small nonprofit organization that not only helped animals but their humans too. We named it after both my cat and my dogs. Whiskers after my cat and tails after my dogs.
Whiskers and Tails is way more than just a bag of dog food and a bit of food for their human. We do our very best to look at the entire family picture and their household. What do they really need and why are they struggling to the point of asking for help?
We try to resolve food issues by steering folks to the idea of growing their own garden as well as taking classes on how to store and prepare foods along with learning how to cook budget friendly meals. Even our seniors and veterans are raising small gardens right in their kitchen windows. We look at how the family spends what they do bring into the household. There are classes that teach folks how to manage their money even if they don’t make very much. There are free adult education classes that offer a variety of certifications, degrees and more. We make sure their animals are vetted, altered, up to date on shots and that they are healthy. And yes, we provide both human and animal foods, animal care supplies and items, essential needs for the humans, resources for diabetic supplies and physical impairment equipment like hospital beds, wheelchairs and the like. We deliver meals to seniors and veterans and their companion animals. We also make sure that the survivors of domestic violence get a real chance to succeed. No going back to the abusive life they left behind. We help displaced homemakers move on and we are always confident that our companion animal families can stand on both feet before we move on to another family.
Not only do we help our families and their companion animals every single day, we collect items throughout the entire year for our Hope for the Holidays program that virtually adopts the families and companion animals that we work with. It’s a program that ensures that our families, individuals and their companion animals are not forgotten on Christmas day or the long cold days that follow.
Today, we are hard at work trying to virtually adopt over one-hundred individuals and families and their companion animals. Some grants might be frozen but, others are still out there, and we apply for them as we find the time. we also do our best to engage new donors and volunteers while we keep busy making sure that our families and their companion animals have the basic needs of life. It’s what I was born to do and It’s what Whiskers and Tails was created for.
We have helped thousands of humans and companion animals since that very first cat we trapped close to thirty years ago. There are still lots of humans and animals that are struggling which means we still have a long way to go and thankfully, we are still working hard to help as many of them as we can.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
One thing I have learned as the director of a small nonprofit is that if there are not some bumps along the way, you must be doing something wrong.
Obstacles are literally a daily thing for small groups like ours.
For instance – funding. Organizations that work with animals receive less than one third of the total of donations that go out.
Getting Volunteers. – We posted all summer long for senior and veteran skilled volunteers to work on our donation house. No one responded at all.
Grants- While government grants might be frozen, some foundation grants are out there but the competition is stiff, and you don’t always find them before the application time is up.
To me, the biggest obstacle of all is trying to do as many different jobs as I can before I completely wear myself out because there is no help.
The big nonprofits do not want to partner with small groups that do not have a lot of resources. Whether they have a good solid reputation or not because they think we don’t have too much to offer.
That is just how it is when you run a very small, all volunteer nonprofit. You often feel like you are on an inflatable life raft in the middle of an ocean filled with sharks.
The positive thing about all of this is that people like me live for it.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I chose artist/creative because I am not an employee since we are an all-volunteer non-profit organization, and because in order to operate an organization like ours – you have to be not only creative but have a little bit of artistry in there too.
I use my gifts as a writer to write books that I sell at fundraisers. They do very well when we do in person events. I also help our families when they have trouble writing their stories. My creativity includes creating and designing crafts of all kinds that range from holiday wreaths to decorative angels, junk journals, jewelry, scrapbooks setting up theme style gardens from the Victorian Era and so much more. The idea behind all of it is to create unique or one-of-a-kind type fundraising or meet and greet events.
From sunup to sundown, I am in the Director of Whiskers and Tails mode. I have to handle the social media, our website, flyers, creative and artistic parts of our group. Story telling is a huge part of the nonprofit world because people need to be able to see it in their mind when you can’t offer a picture. Because we work with so many sensitive situations, like working with the survivors of domestic violence, there are a lot of things we cannot show to the general public for both privacy and safety. But we can share their story and sometimes they can’t write it. They can barely talk about it. It is my job to make sure that what they have to say gets out to the public one way or another.
My specialty is writing. I love it, I live for it, and I am real believer in how the written word has the power to change a lot. I am most proud of many of the stories that I wrote because they either changed a life or saved a life. I never knew how a few words could do any of that until a donor told me that after she read my story about a woman that ran for her life with her kids and animals to get away from abuse, changed her life too. What I said encouraged her to get away from an abusive situation and it saved her life and the life of her animals.
A lot of stories have been written since that first one and when people tell me that it touched them to the point of making some kind of change for the better, that makes me proud and very very happy.
I think what sets me apart from others is that I have managed to figure out how to keep my little nonprofit going even though resources and funding have been limited. I’m not a paid employee. I am the person who created this organization, and I am driven to keep it going with or without obstacles and I feel like my creativity, has helped me to do just that.
What makes you happy?
When it comes to my nonprofit – being able to stretch what we have to be able to help just one more family or individual.
When it comes to me personally, – meeting a goal. Getting something done. Checking it off the list.
I love to start something and finish it. To me, that is the greatest reward in the world.
I know a lot of people might say family and yes, I love my family and I love spending time with them and it makes me really happy. like holidays and just because days but, creating a project in your mind and then watching it turn into something real = that really makes me happy.
(To many people say they are going to do something and never do. I have to do it!)
Contact Info:
- Website: https://whiskersandtails.org
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WhiskersandTails2/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@whiskersandtails2mo
