Updated 2/26/25: Ollie’s Place cat shelter is once again at risk of losing their East Village space. They urgently need donations!
Donate now, and your donation will be matched (up to $50,000). Every little bit helps!
https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-ollies-place-cat-rescue-every-dollar-matched
Older update: 3/5/24: In December 2023, we learned that Ollieʼs Place, a no-kill nonprofit cat shelter in NYCʼs East Village, needed to find homes for their 16 adult and senior cats before the end of January 2024, when they faced closure due to a lack of funds. They also had some urgent and expensive veterinary costs for their kitties. Thanks to an outpouring of generosity over those two months, they were able to scrape together the funds to keep their space—but they still need your help to keep this special urban cat refuge open and operating.
How you can continue to help:
Inquire about adopting or volunteering by emailing cats@mightymutts.org (They were recently able to take in more cats since arranging the adoptions for many of their residents to have happy endings in forever homes! Check their Instagram page @mightymutts for the latest on available cats, or visit 430 East 9th Street Monday through Friday 6pm-8pm or weekends 12pm-5pm.)
Donate to their parent organization Mighty Mutts via:
or one of the other options on their Linktree at linktr.ee/OlliesPlaceCats
Spread the word to those who can adopt or help fund their efforts! Word of mouth helps. If you are on Instagram, you can share one of the three reels we made below (you can share the happy news that their immediate crisis was narrowly avoided, but they are not out of the woods yet). Or you can make your own art or media inspired by the Ollieʼs Place cats—help amplify the message, and tag CMNYC (@catmuseumnyc) and Ollieʼs Place (@mightymutts) in your post!
Ollieʼs Place writes in the caption:
Exciting News!! We are so thankful to all of you!!
You heard our pleas, one more year, let's make it count 😸❤️
We're thrilled to announce that, thanks to overwhelming response, our cat adoption center's pleas have been answered. Your generous donations have poured in, ensuring the continuation of our vital work of rescuing and rehabilitating homeless cats for one more year! Together, we've secured a hopeful future for our flock. Thank you for making a difference in their lives and for buying us more time to heal our sweet Paul, socialize our silly Marigold, welcome back our blind angel Squeeks (and any other adoptions that don't work out), and give more cats a chance at happiness.
But just because we've hopefully scraped together the rent doesn't mean that is the end of it- vet care+transportation is actually our largest expense (followed by Churus and Temptations... just kidding!?). So come with us on our journey this year as we fix up our motley crew and hunt for those experienced cat homes well versed in former ferals, meds, and care taking. In addition to monetary donations for vetting, we always welcome a case of food or giftcard from our Chewy Wishlist; even a few cans dropped off at our adoption center will brighten our kitties' day!
Linktree:
https://linktr.ee/OlliesPlaceCats
Thank you!!
You can buy a print, t-shirt, tote bag, greeting card, and more with a “lovely design” featuring the cats of Ollieʼs Place by artist Lily Kim Qian on Redbubble. The artist captures the “spunky personality” of each cat and has generously chosen to donate the profits to Ollieʼs Place.
Find the purrfect way to display your love for Ollieʼs Place cats on a variety of products for sale with the artistʼs design here: redbubble.com/shop/ap/125972568.
Most of the cute cats depicted are still available for adoption, and a few are already Ollieʼs Place alums in or promised to forever homes—check @mightymutts on Instagram for the latest updates about the shelterʼs adoptable cats, or email cats@mightymutts.org to inquire about adopting.
Learn more about talented artist Lily Kim Qian on her website.
For more news/media about Ollieʼs Place:
Read the Pix11 News coverage (article published 12/13/23)
View the shelterʼs statement on Instagram (from their account @mightymutts) (posted 12/12/23)
Watch our Instagram reels about the shelter and their wonderful cats (posted 12/12/23):
Reel 1: Overview: Ollie's Place is a cat shelter located at 430 East 9th Street in NYC. They have 15 wonderful cats in their care and one real jerk. Jk, they're all delightful (sorry for calling you out, Jerry). Due to a lack of funding, they are facing closure in January 2024. They have five weeks to find homes for all 16 of their adult and senior cats.😿
There are so few shelters, let alone no-kill nonprofit shelters like Ollie's Place. (UPDATE: Thanks for comments asking about how to help! It's not too late. Donate via Venmo or PayPal to @MightyMutts, email cats@mightymutts.org for questions about adopting a cat or donations, or read on for other ways to help. Link is in the CMNYC Instagram bio to the Ollie's Place Linktree for other ways to help too: linktr.ee/OlliesPlaceCats.)
Have you ever been to a cat cafe and thought, wow, this is awesome? Ollie's Place is like that, except without the risk of cat hair in your coffee. (No shade to cat cafes.)😹
You can visit with the cats and the amazing, hardworking volunteers weeknight evenings 6-8pm and weekends 12-5pm for FREE (donations encouraged). They are rigorous with their adoption screenings and you have the chance to apply to be one of the lucky few to own an Ollie's Place alum.❗And they need adopters now more than ever since these happy healthy cats are at risk of losing their home.
What’s worse, in addition to normal veterinary care costs to keep these cats healthy year-round, they need to lay out the costs for two of their cats (Paul and Big Boi) who have some serious health issues that will require the Animal Medical Center services soon.💰
🤔 How can you help? So glad you asked! 😽
Please donate (they're under the nonprofit Mighty Mutts), apply to adopt, and spread the word to anyone you know who wants a cat or who might want to support this beautiful feline space.
Link to their linktree is in the CMNYC instagram bio, or at linktr.ee/OlliesPlaceCats.
You can find out more about the adoptable cats with profiles being posted on the @mightymutts Instagram account. Please be patient, they are volunteer-run, and they appreciate anyone who is trying to help save this special place and their cats! #saveolliesplace #adoptdontshop #catshelter #catsofnyc
Reel 2: Cat Café Perks, Without the Risk of Cat Hair in Your Percolator: Ollieʼs Place is a special place with a free-roaming, no-frills, cat café-like shelter space, which can be visited weeknights 5-8pm and weekends 12-5pm, for free (donations encouraged), sans reservation. If we canʼt save the shelter space itself (but donʼt count them out yet!), we can at least make sure their cats get to experience loving forever homes.
Check out the profiles of adoptable cats being posted to the Ollieʼs Place Instagram account at @mightymutts. Updates are shared as fast as the hardworking volunteers can post them.
Reel 3: The Importance of Adoption Match-Making: CMNYC co-founder Jenny Piersonʼs experience volunteering at Ollieʼs Place showed that rigorous adoption screenings resulted in lowering the chances that cats will endure the trauma of being returned to the shelter if things donʼt work out with an adoption. This was the case for her own cat and museum meow-scot Churro, who experienced some trauma from having been a stray cat who was spayed, rescued, adopted, and sadly returned to a different shelter where she became stressed—until Jenny scooped her up into a forever home where she could finally, slowly unwind. Cats are highly territorial, so even a well-meaning venue change can be a big deal.
While even well-meaning folks sometimes are forced to give up a beloved cat against their will—whether due to financial hardship (especially given how unaffordable veterinary care can be—which the museum is committed to addressing in its future programming), serious human health issues such as from aging, or pet-intolerant landlords—it is a tricky balancing act to place a cat somewhere that is the right fit for each cat and its human alike. Until that process is complete, the cats at Ollieʼs Place are kept healthy and happy at the shelter. But now they donʼt have much time to matchmake for their special cats to prepare for the shelterʼs possible closure.
Letʼs make their next homes their forever ones.
In the video, Jenny is wearing a t-shirt with artist Lily Kim Qianʼs design, which you can buy on Redbubble. The artist generously offers proceeds to Ollieʼs Place. Check out and shop for the purrfect way to display your love for Ollieʼs Place cats on a variety of products for sale with the artistʼs design here: redbubble.com/shop/ap/125972568
Follow @mightymutts on Instagram for the latest updates
regarding news about the shelter and adoptable cats.