35 Comments
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Sue's avatar

I would love to donate, but will not use PayPal.

Will be watching for alternate ways to fund Elena's mission.

God bless her and her rescue.

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Celia Farber's avatar

Thank you Sue. I understand. I'm going to try to focus and get KoFi.

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Mel Layton's avatar

In the meantime, Western Union is easy to use with offices in every corner of the world. You can donate online and Elena can pick up her cash in a few minutes. I use it to send money to Cambodia. Yes, there is a fee.

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denise ward's avatar

I feel the same. I hope there will be another option once the new Substack is up and running.

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Infanttyron3's avatar

My late wife and I survived three cats in California and took one with us to Costa Rica in 2009. After Barbara died in 2012, I was able to relocate Kasper (aka el fantasma gris) with a loving family in a nearby town. I inherited an adolescent cat when I bought a house in North Carolina in 2018 and lost her last year to an aggressive kidney infection.

Compared to what Elena must deal with, I've had a fairly sheltered existence, so I used Paypal and sent her a modest contribution. When the new Substack is up and running, feel encouraged to add me as a subscriber if that's something the developer dashboard allows you to do.

BTW, Paypal charged a 5% fee due to the international nature of the transaction, If there is a way to add the KoFi app to the new Substack, it may be worth considering doing that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AazEMt0eoFg

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Celia Farber's avatar

Thank you, I appreciate this and I know Elena does too. I am also sorry for your loss of your wife, as well as your cat losses.

When we get the new Substack up and running, it will all be (like this one) no paywall. And yes, KoFi sounds like a good idea. I'm not good with this stuff but trying to improve. I'll research KoFi...👩‍🌾

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Infanttyron3's avatar

My understanding is if someone donates 5 USD via KoFi, the recipient gets 5 USD, with no service charge or skim. Not sure how that makes financial sense for KoFi Inc., unless they handle so much money that they make something substantial on overnight interest (or are selling our 'donation data' to some nefarious entity), but it's worth looking into. The other popular one is 'Buy Me A Coffee', but I think they take a small rake before sending it to the recipient.

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Sue's avatar

I'm sorry you lost your wife, and more recently, your cat.

Thank you for taking that kitty in and caring for her.

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Infanttyron3's avatar

She basically came with the house...after good experiences with many cats before her, it wasn't any trouble at all...more like symbiotic/synergetic good luck. 🙂😸

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MissMacInTX's avatar

Yeah ,it kinda irks me when rescues pass over animals who could be healed with intervention and are young enough to be considered adoptable in favor of desperately ill, terminal, or severe injury cases, where humane euthanasia is a likely necessary outcome. Rescue must be first and foremost HUMANE!

If we pull an animal from the shelter and get to the vet and see severe conditions that prolong suffering, we euthanize, or plan a kind period of hospice. We don’t collect donations for aggressive treatment…no, I am not doing aggressive cancer treatment on any dog including my own. (Radiation and chemotherapy; I would consider surgery to excise tumors or amputate a limb)

They always have problems after, their life expectancy is shortened by the treatment itself and adoption prospects are limited when I tell adopters the dog has a history of cancer!

I always used donations as specified for the animals designated or returned donations.

We posted vet bills online. To show we did vet a dog, what was done and our costs. Excess donations were refused, returned, or, with permission from a donor, used for our general fund. But the status of a dog was always about it’s best interest and comfort. It’s future, and quality of life.

Again, there are things worse than euthanasia, and you pointed it out!

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James Greene's avatar

Animal rescue as a corporate racket was on full display once when I was evicted and thought to bring my two cats to animal control on Linden Blvd in Brooklyn or Queens, I'm not sure which. As I came in through the doors with two carry boxes in either hand, the lady behind the counter said if I left them there they'd be put down. So I brought them back and left them in the apartment when the city marshal came. My aunt was able to take one and I've got to trust that the landlord at least let the other one go in the street if nothing else. His lawyer turned out to be a cat lover. Lately I'm reading Francesca Albanese's "economy of occupation and genocide" and thinking how corporations enable things like Gaza and the West Bank for reasons that reduce them all to human nothinghood, lately seen in President Trump at the end of his Alligator Alcatraz press conference-- https://youtube.com/watch?v=b0q-UoMwc3A .

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Sue's avatar

When did this happen?

Glad your aunt rescued one of your cats, but hoping your landlord let the other "go in the street, if nothing else"...? Do you have any idea what it's like for a cat to try to survive on the streets, let alone a house cat?

Did the lawyer adopt the one you left behind?

There are many shelters and rescue organizations throughout the boroughs. You couldn't find anything else besides that dismal animal control?

Those cats were your responsibility and dependent on you.

Please don't get any more animals.

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James Greene's avatar

Summer 2003, in the Mill Basin area of Brooklyn, with a female cat my aunt gave me as a kitten, me saying already my days were numbered there. I later picked up the boy cat, also a kitten, from a girl selling it in front of a Key Food. Some years went by until the day the landlord got the city marshal to come. I always remember cats surviving the streets and backyards of the Marine Park area of Brooklyn where I grew up. I don't go looking for cats to bring in to stay with me, but I don't close my door to a one that wants to be friendly, either.

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Dale Peterson's avatar

You are amazing! Thank you so much for everything you are doing for those precious little kitties.

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Celia Farber's avatar

Dale how is the bullied hen doing? I think of her now and then. I hope she never has to see her bullies again. Can she stay in the bathroom? Hens are brutal.

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Dale Peterson's avatar

Thank you so much for your concern! She has been reintegrated and is doing quite well. I check on her frequently and she does not appear to be being a bullied anymore.

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Saffron's avatar

LOVE the Logo Celia! x

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Celia Farber's avatar

Aw thank you! It was...the machine that made it. AI I suppose. But I tinkered with colors and font. 🐘

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Mark Harris's avatar

I couldn't emulate Elena either. One intervention, successful or not, and I'd be wrecked for weeks.

Here's the Spanish version: a los animales les encanta vivir

German: Tiere lieben es zu leben

Italian: gli animali amano vivere

Dutch: dieren houden van leven

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MDickie's avatar

I could not do what Elena does either, she is truly an Angel. Thank you for bringing this to our attention Celia. ❤️ I don’t do PayPal (had a problem with it years ago) but if you do a gofundme or givesendgo please let me know & I will donate.

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Celia Farber's avatar

Yes, I now understand I have to overcome tech-blocks and really leave the PayPal plantation. Thank you for your comment. Hm. Maybe Give Send Go...

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MDickie's avatar

Yes that would be awesome & I think maybe more people would donate to Elena then at least I hope so since many people would see it.

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R M Jackson's avatar

Gosh, her experiences sound very similar to what my niece in a small middle east country tells me about the treatment of unwanted cats/dogs there. She helps with a small cat rescue there . . . and has said people have been known to just leave unwanted animals out in the desert. Plus their culture is against neutering, but apparently not against allowing them to fend for themselves on the streets.

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Helena Glass's avatar

Thank you

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George Jacobs's avatar

This is such a sweet story and I love the logo! Celia, the old phrase, "alter ego" comes to mind. You couldn't do what Elena is doing and you don't have to because she is doing it and there is no separation– Your hearts are one!

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Jennifer Koko's avatar

Celia, I will be pleased to donate to help Elena and her new beautifully named rescue! Please just let me know where, when you have decided.

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tRuth's avatar

Watching, waiting for a 100% donation surity/promise to reach Elena; even if it means placing directly in her hands, or Celia's.

Grass roots all the way!

Maybe Celia could not do what Elena does, but the lady and son are doing so much essential background work. Important stuff to benefit all those doing good for 'Animals Like to Live'.

When my son and his gf moved to Barcelona, they had a beautiful, stray cat named Topaz, from a vet working pro bono. I think Topaz is now in Gracia, with his 'momma'.

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Desiree Flores's avatar

Nice name, it fits and feels good, thanks for the stories, yup scammers galore, unfortunately, oh well we keep on keeping on chugging along the road less travelled faith in hand, Grüß Gott!

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Un-silent's avatar

Elena definitely has a calling, she sounds very brave and very caring. Thank God for people like her. I often get emails here in the US from those who are trying to rescue horses from being sent to Mexican slaughter houses, these good people often go through hell to save these beautiful animals, may the Lord be with them all.

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la chevalerie vit's avatar

Great name and awesome logo. I look forward to a post that her substack is set up!

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