The Band City Stray Cat Rescue and Protection Society (SCRAPS) is keeping busy this Christmas season with fundraisers at the Town 'n' Country Mall.
A silent auction has been set up at their store in the mall with donated items including everything from artwork to sports memorabilia.
“We even have coal from the Titanic. It’s kind of an exciting little addition,” SCRAPS board member Anne Marciszyn said.
“We have an original print here from Susan Franklyn, who is an artist who lives locally in Mossbank, and she supports SCRAPS and has donated her print.”
The silent auction winners will be announced on Dec. 23 at 4 p.m.
SCRAPS opened their store, sponsored by the Town 'n' Country Mall, for December.
The store includes many items that have been donated to the group and have been bought for resale. SCRAPS is also selling their calendar for the second year in a row.
Many of the items at the store are geared towards cats or have a cat-theme to them.
“People can just come in and buy their gifts,” Marciszyn said. “Right now we are focused on Christmas items but we’ve had this for months in the past and had different things to offer.”
Along with the silent auction, the group will be be gift wrapping at the mall for the month of December with donations going to SCRAPS’s operation costs.
The SCRAPS store is open Sunday to Wednesday from noon to 4 p.m., Thursdays and Fridays from noon to 8 p.m., and Saturdays from noon to 5:30 p.m. until Dec. 24. The store will reopen on Dec. 26 and 27 from noon to 4 p.m.
The store also acts as a satellite adoption centre, allowing shoppers to meet a few of the cats available for adoption through SCRAPS.
SCRAPS goal is to control the cat population by having stray cats spayed or neutered. The organization is funded through fundraisers only and run by volunteers.
Marciszyn says there are many ways person can help out, from volunteering to fostering cats.
“Another way people can help us is if they are actually not able to physically adopt a cat or physically help in some way, they can sponsor a spay or neuter or sponsor a cat for adoption,” she said.
“We have a lot of cats in our care and some of the older ones are ones that are more difficult to adopt like black cats, older cats or cats with disabilities sometimes need that extra little bit of inspiration to give them a great home.”
Information on how to donate to SCRAPS can be found on their Facebook page.
