Pippi’s Place Pet Rescue is a non-profit, volunteer organization that rescues homeless cats, arranges veterinary care for them, provides foster homes, and when the animals are ready, places them with loving families.

To learn more about the shelter and this creative idea, Bored Panda reached out to the director, Vicki. When asked to tell us more about Pippi’s Place, she shared: “Pippi’s Place is named for a tiny black kitten whose life ended far too quickly. She was a stray, outdoor kitty who was found and dearly loved by her family who made the sweet adventurer part of their own. At approximately 1 year old, Pippi was hit by a car and did not survive. Pippi’s Place is her legacy. We believe pets greatly enrich the lives of the people who care for them. We have beautiful stories to share. A little girl slept in her own bed for the first time after her parents’ divorce when her new kitty cuddled up beside her and wrapped her paws gently around the little girl’s arm. A lady in Atlanta who lost her husband has found a friend who follows her from room to room and entertains her with his antics. Love always wins.”

As listed on the website, the goal “is to place feline companions in permanent homes following a comprehensive screening process, which includes ensuring a good match between the animal and prospective adopter, as well as educating potential adopters about the responsibilities associated with bringing a cat into their home.”However, that does not come without challenges. Therefore, we asked Vicki to share the biggest challenges they have faced when running a pet rescue organization.

“The biggest challenges are securing sufficient funding to meet the needs of the animals as well as locating foster families to care for them until they are ready to go home. Veterinary care has become quite expensive for everyone, including rescues. We try to cut costs to keep our adoption fees low. Adoption fees do not begin to cover our expenses. We do not have a brick-and-mortar central location. All of our kitties are in foster care which we believe is the best environment to ensure they are healthy and well-socialized,” shared Vicki.

Pippi’s Place was fostering 9 cats at a time when they decided to give them a little bit more publicity. We were wondering how they came up with this genius social media idea. Vicky shared: “Recently our social media guru, Kayla Delcoure, blessed us with her creative genius, and now the light of love is shining so bright at Pippi's Place! Kayla is the best one to respond to this question as Catvana is her 'brainchild'.”

Kayla also was kind enough to share her side of the story regarding the idea behind it. She wrote: “My inspiration for CatVana is humorously uneventful. My husband has been wanting to buy a truck for months and occasionally brings me his phone to show me the listings. On Tuesday morning while I was brainstorming cute ways to display all nine of Pippi's Place's available cats in one post, my husband walked into my office to show me a truck listing. My brain was only half left with the cat work I was doing, so when I saw the year, make, and model of the cars, I thought it would be cheeky to make a post showing the cats as if they were cars. I pulled up the actual CatVana website and modeled the multiple cat listing page off their car search. While I was doing that, different amusing descriptions kept popping up in my head, like the 'four-paw-drive', 'rear air vent', and the rest of them, so I went ahead and made the individual listings as well.”

Following that, we were curious how people reacted once they saw the result. Vicki shared: “The response to the Catvana social media posts has been amazing! As a result of the campaign, the number of followers on social media has increased drastically. One of our senior kitties flew with his new dad to his forever home in Canada last week, and a gentleman in Germany is making a matching donation for each of the nine kitties adopted who appeared on the original post. The Catvana campaign, and Carvana's response to the whole thing, have beautifully demonstrated that kindness and generosity continue to flourish. Pippi’s Place has always been a family bonded by people who love animals, as well as one another. It is a joy to see our family grow!”