It could not have been a more beautiful day on Saturday, 9/22, for the Two Bostons Adopt-A-Rama in the parking lot of their south Naperville store - sunny, cool and with a gentle breeze. The set-up was a bit different this year than in prior years. Rather than the tents occupying the parking lot, they were set-up along a sidewalk plaza area in the middle of the parking lot. A number of rescues brought their adoptable dogs and a few cats to meet potential adopters, and sold promotional items. Two Bostons also conducted a food drive for all participants.

Since we were showing our kittens in the van, we pulled up next to the sidewalk surrounding the plaza and set up our tent next to it. We seemed to get pretty good foot traffic in this location and many families and stop by to see our delightful kittens.

15 kittens (Moonbeam, Will, Harry, Sirius, Ra, Ophelia, Juliet, York, Onion, Alejandro, Alonzo, Mexico, Memphis, Mel and Meadow) were the stars of our show. Everyone did very well, engaged with our guests and seemed to enjoy the beautiful day as much as we did. I heard from the foster families that everyone slept well that evening!

4 kittens were adopted during the event:

• Ophelia and William were the pick for a family from Addison. They lost their prior two cats within the last year and were looking for new companions. Their two school aged daughters played with all of the kittens and fell in love with Ophelia. They went off to purchase cat supplies. When they came back, they had decided that Ophelia needed a buddy. She was curled up with William and Harry, so they decided on William. We were very happy the two kittens stayed together.
• Mel and Meadow won the heart of a former adopter who drove all the way there from Des Plaines. She came to the event appropriately wearing a shirt saying "I love black cats!". She had adopted another black male kitten from us in 2014 and also has a 12 yr old black male cat. Meadow is the one girl in this delightful group. Per current reports she is hanging around with mom and taking her time getting acquainted, while Mel jumped right into the action with the other boys.

5 additional adoptions occurred over the weekend (1 adult & 4 kittens):

• Mercury was adopted by family in Glendale Heights as a study buddy for their college age daughter. He will also have an older cat-friendly dog as a companion.
• Ambrosia (2 yr old adult) was adopted by a family in New Lennox. She seemed to especially relate to their 8 yr old son, who was very patient and gentle with her. Per current reports, she is settling in nicely.
• Kelsey stole the heart of a couple from Peotone. She is their first kitty and getting lots of attention - which she is eating up!
• Duckie and Falcon were adopted together by an animal-loving family in Crest Hill. They have 2 dogs and a 1 yr old cat. They originally came interested only in Duckie, but later decided that they couldn't leave his sister behind. We were very pleased.

So a good week of adoptions overall!

Thanks to Two Bostons for hosting this event, inviting us to participate, and for the food donation we received.

Many thanks to the volunteers who helped with the set-up and clean-up from the event as well as interacting with our guests, promoting our kitties, and completing the adoptions (Sara, Bernie, Steve, Candy, Joanie). It was an interesting problem trying to figure out how best to set up our van, tent and tables with the space we were given, but I think the result was very effective. Many thanks also to the fosters who brought their kittens to the event (Joanie, Marilyn, Gillian, Marisa).

Special thanks for all of the other valuable contributions which made the event a success - to Candy for the great photography & videography during the event; to Connie, Stephanie and Ted for promoting the event on our Facebook page and web site; to Bonnie & Steve for the excellent new, professional-looking cage cards, now with photos of the kitties!; to Mike and Debbie for the on-going and accurate updates to the Adoptable Cats & Kittens binder and board; to Sara and Bernie for your help with adoption counseling; to Sara for helping with the laundry.

We have one weekend off of adoption events (we are participating in Barkapalooza on Sunday, 9/30), and then 3 adoption events are being scheduled in October:

• Saturday, 10/6, at Pet Supplies Plus at 198 North Ave. in Villa Park, from 11am-3pm.
• Saturday, 10/20, at PetSmart at 63 Rice Lake Square in Wheaton, from 11am-3pm.
• Saturday, 10/27, likely at Pet Supplies Plus at 720 E. Ogden Ave. in Naperville, from 11am-3pm - still need to confirm.
• 11/10-11 is the final PetSmart National Adoption Weekend of the year, so we will be at the Wheaton PetSmart one day that weekend.

Please mark your calendars. Details to follow.

Thanks,

Sue