Stand in the Gap
There’s been a gap in our community that has forced people to make impossible choices.
No local cat rescue. Limited access to low-cost spay/neuter services. An animal shelter currently without the capacity to accept cats.
That gap has forced cat parents to choose between their own basic needs and spay/neuter surgery. Unwanted litters have contributed to the start of new community cat colonies, and for over 20 years compassionate members of our community have taken matters into their own hands to care for community cats.
In 2024 CLAWS stepped into that gap — and now we’re asking you to join us.
Some people qualify for assistance. Some people can afford full cost.
CLAWS wants to help the people in between.
Finding the gap.
In 2022, we fostered our first bottle babies. Over the next two years, we began to put the pieces together — and we found the gap. Our local shelter wasn’t equipped to accept cats. The county had no local rescue. A few dedicated souls had been caring for community cats out of their own pockets for years.
Then came the moment in 2024 when we learned about the true extent of Lebanon’s community cat population and the lack of public awareness surrounding it. I thought, “Someone should get all the community cat caregivers together and figure out a way to support them” — and quite by accident, I spoke CLAWS into existence.
Fast forward to 2026: CLAWS has identified 11 colonies and seven caregivers, fostered 19 bottle babies, and helped nine cats find new homes. That’s a small number, but a big achievement for a nonprofit depending entirely on two volunteers with full-time jobs and the generosity of people in our community who care as much about cats as we do.
But there’s still a gap.
We’re attacking the community cat problem from every angle — and we need you to stand in the gap with us.
What it looks like in the gap.
We’re a town — and county — with a community cat population problem. The need was real and the work couldn’t wait, so we stepped in. Becoming CLAWS took more than a trap and a trip to the vet. To obtain our 501(c)(3) status, our out-of-pocket investment was $1,200 — just to claim a name, a government number, and the legal authority to solicit funds.
The reality of the gap shouldn’t be about money, but the truth is that there are very few grants available to fund TNR programs, and some limit spending to a small portion of the actual cost of spay/neuter surgery. If the measure of our success is the number of cats we can provide a better life for — whether that means supplying a colony with warm winter shelters and a consistent food source, or transferring a litter of kittens to a rescue — then CLAWS has to attack the community cat problem from every angle, including the financial one.
Meeting and exceeding our long-term goals requires funding for general operating expenses, license renewals, membership fees, shelter materials, humane traps and carriers, medical care, foster supplies, caregiver support, community education and training events, large-scale TNR events, spay/neuter surgery for those who can’t afford it, community outreach, advertising, and fundraising. And that’s just a portion of what it will take to reduce the community cat population.
Why it matters right now.
What if every community colony had a caregiver to ensure they had food, water, and shelter? What if every female community cat was spayed and colony numbers started to decline? What if every cat owner could be assured that spay/neuter surgery was available? What if there was a local rescue to accept cats when surrender is the only option left?
When you support CLAWS, you’re helping us show up — for the community cats that need TNR, for the caregivers trying to do right by them, for the families in the gap who just need a little help to prevent an unwanted litter, and for the kittens who arrive in crisis and need everything at once.
The gap is real. So is the difference one community can make when it decides to fill it.
Standing in the Gap is how CLAWS will do that work — consistently, sustainably, and without having to say no when the need is real.
Yes, I’ll Stand in the Gap