It’s been said that kindness is the highest form of wisdom. At the Animals in Distress Shelter in Mercerville, a group of women have aspired to those heights by taking care of kittens and cats without homes.
Florana Tuccillo started the all-volunteer, non-profit organization from her home at 49 Wesley Avenue in Hamilton back in the early 1960’s. The animals were housed at the Trenton Veterinary Hospital, with the goal of placing homeless and abused felines in forever homes with families. It wound up in its current location, in a cottage behind the Mercerville Animal Hospital on Edinburg Road 15 years ago.
When Patricia Soltis met Tuccillo for the first time, she approached the nonprofit founder about making a donation.
“Mrs. Tuccillo told me that she didn’t want a donation,” Soltis said. “She wanted my help.”
That was 43 years ago. Soltis is now the organization’s president.
Thanks to Tuccillo’s challenge, Soltis decided that she was going to commit to helping out with whatever she could do for the shelter, while working as a manager at a Trenton law firm.
“I remember when Mrs. Tuccillo and I were in church at her husband Fred’s funeral, and she looked at me and said that she can’t [run the shelter] anymore because of being so distraught about her husband’s death,” Soltis said. “It was a hot day, and the doors of the church were open. In walks this cat who comes all the way up to the alter, and Mrs. Tuccillo and I looked at each other and said that this was a sign that she can’t give it up.”
Soltis and Tuccillo became good friends, and after 10 years of working together, Tuccillo died from throat cancer.
“I still remember her words to me when I started out as a volunteer, “ said Soltis, who has given more than 1,000 felines new homes. “Mrs. Tuccillo said that I have to toughen up because I used to cry when I would see the kittens and cats at the shelter that were abused and homeless … I have toughened up somewhat, but my heart is always with the animals, and with Mrs. Tuccillo. We will continue to rescue and foster these beautiful animals, and give all of them the homes they deserve, making the families who adopt them happy, too. This is my life.”
The shelter’s current location at 720 Edinburg Road in Mercerville, behind Mercerville Animal Hospital, was a gift from Dr. William J. Cater, then the hospital’s owner and a good friend of Tuccillo’s. The facility was once a garage before it was converted 15 years ago into a “cat cottage.”
About 15 cats stay at the shelter at a time, and Animals In Distress never has to fundraise to support itself or the felines. The shelter survives thanks to gifts left to the organization from generous cat lovers.
“One man left us half of his estate in his Will, another man left us his house, and there is a woman who funds us regularly since we keep her cats, which are not to be adopted, at the facility and take care of them on a daily basis,” Soltis said.
Hamilton residents Bettee Farmer, the organization’s vice president, and Helen Zotto work at the facility on Wednesday evenings. Farmer has been with the organization for 35 years.
“I have been doing this for so long, that it feels like my second home,” Farmer said. “We get to spend time with the kittens and cats who need homes, and when we place them with the family that we feel will be a forever home for the animals, we feel so happy.”
Zotta has been working with Farmer for six years. She said that she only intended to stay a year, but now wants to help for as long as she can.
Hamilton resident Carol Pfeiffer, the organization’s secretary, is a nurse who uses her professional skills to care for the animals, as well as foster them. She started 13 years ago when a cat showed up on her front porch, and she fed him. She looked in the phonebook for a facility to help care for him, and found Animals In Distress.
“Bettee Farmer answered the phone when I called, I brought him in, and now, 13 years later, I have been volunteering at AIDs, and helping to find families who will give these kittens and cats the tender loving care, good nutrition, and the forever home they need,” Pfeiffer said.
Kim Pillsbury and Sandra Harms, Hamilton residents who ran a recent adoption day together, said it’s important to match the felines with the right family.
“We really spend a lot of time going over the applications so that we know the animals are placed in a safe home,” Pillsbury said. “We really watch the potential adoptees and their interaction with the kittens and cats to see if they belong together. This is not a pet shop. It is a shelter.”
Pillsbury said she likes to leave soft classical music playing on the radio when she leaves the shelter for the night.
The staff is all-volunteer, and each volunteer works certain nights. The facility is open to the public Monday through Friday from 5:30 to 7 p.m., as well as adoption days on occasional Sundays from 1-4 p.m. Also part of the staff is Cara Kolbert and her boyfriend Kevin Kraft, who socialize the felines, and Michelle Mars and Susan Kemeler-Sibree who foster the kittens. Fred DeAngelis, along with several other volunteers, clean the cages every Thursday at the local PetSmart.
Debbie Kvester, a volunteer at AIDs for over five years and one of more than 200 members who make annual contributions to the organization, said the cats at the cottage are the lucky ones, especially since many felines are not rescued off of the streets the way that unleashed dogs are.
“There are so many animals who are euthanized at kill shelters due to overpopulation,” Kvester said. “It is so important to educate people about having kittens and cats spayed and neutered so that the population can be greatly reduced, and less and less felines will be killed. We are not a kill shelter, and our goal is to place all of our kittens and cats, in a forever home.
“We will do everything that we can to make a difference. Saving one cat won’t change the world, but it will change the world for one cat.”
For more information, go online to animals-in-distress.org.
web1_0086AFF3-F40B-4C4F-B8CC-3D478F54C6FC-WEB.jpg,
