Meow! Cat Ears And Goody Bags For The Black Cat Ball

Location: Chicago Party Animals

Date: Monday, October 14, 2013; 6:00-9:00 pm

First of all, contemplate the title.  It starts with a "Meow" for God’s sake.  So it was obvious that we would be helping an organization that had something to do with kitties.  This was indeed the case, since we were helping ‘Tree House Humane Society’ prepare for their annual ‘The Black Cat Ball’. According to the description on the One Brick website, “The Black Cat Ball is the Tree House Humane Society's biggest, most well-attended event of the year and helps raise funds to help the neediest cats in Chicago.  Nearly 400 attendees enjoy great food, drinks, auction prizes, and dancing. This year, they will also learn about updates on the progress of a new Adoption Center and Low-cost Veterinary Clinic.”  It went on to say that, “Tree House is a humane organization that promotes the inherent value of every animal and strives to educate the public about proper and responsible animal care, with a focus on the care and placement of stray cats with special physical and emotional needs. They are committed to finding every healthy and treatable animal a home and to helping lead the way to a No-Kill nation.”  We should support any organization that helps those who are unable to speak for themselves and animals are on top of that list. Our job this evening was to stuff goody bags and make cat ears for gala guests. Now, I had no idea what making of “cat ears” would entail, though Wilson - who was the manager - assured us that instructions would be provided.  We were also told that while no cats were expected to be present at the project, there was a chance that the owner’s dog may be present.  Well, I could live with that.

"Get off my couch"

I convinced my colleague Elizabeth to come with me and since the place was just a mile away from our office, we decided to walk.  What we had not counted on was that it would take us through the old meatpacking district, which still reeked.  We finally arrived at the venue and I saw Wilson along with some of the other One Brick regulars. One group had gotten started on making the ears, which involved tracing the shape on black and grey foam, and then cutting into the proper shape.  Besides making cats ears, we were also going to assemble goody bags to hand out at the ball.  However, the supplies for the bags were still not on site and so we were just waiting for instructions while nibbling on some cheese snacks.  As advertised there were a couple of dogs were indeed in attendance and I went over to play with them.  One of them was a Pug named Mr. Big and the other was Frankie, the Beagle.  Mr. Big has a favorite corner on one of the couches in the area and does not like anyone else sitting there.  I learned from his owner that if anyone has occupied that spot, he stares at them and then guilt’s them into getting up.  Today no one was there and so he had settled nicely into his space.

Treat for the kitties

As we were still waiting, we picked up boxes full of some glasses and started putting them into bubble wrap pockets.  These were eventually going to be a part of the goody bags and one of the ‘Treehouse’ volunteers told us that she had moved apartments plenty of times to know how to tuck bubble wrap inside glasses so as to not break them – certainly a useful skill to know.  Rich and Gary were in attendance and I introduced them to Elizabeth as “beer snobs”, well Gary more than Rich.  It was fun catching up with some of the other volunteers, including Michelle, who reminded me of the crown that she had made for me at the last project that we did together.  Amidst all of this, the goody bag supplies had finally arrived and we laid it out as an assembly line and started our usual method of walking around the table putting it inside the bags. First up was a CD, followed by a chewy toy for a cat.  Then we had a choice of either putting in a post-it pad or a colorful bracelet.  I told the others that I refused to put the post-it inside till we ran out of the bracelets.  I mean, come on.  There isn't even a choice here.  There were several flyers, which were supposed to go inside as well as some cat food – chicken, turkey or salmon variety.  Once again, I decided to choose salmon variety, knowing that cats preferred fish to anything else. Then there was something called a “lickety stix” treat and finally the wrapped glasses.  I picked a bag and then went down the line grabbing one of each.  While some like Elizabeth were doing two bags at a time, I stuck to one.  As I collected all of the flyers to put into the bag, the lady who had shown us how to wrap the glasses said that obviously I had never learned to collate.  I said that while I had heard and seen that word on many a photocopying machines, I had no idea what that even meant!  Soon we started running out of some of the items and Erin, who worked for ‘Treehouse’, said that we should continue with whatever we had.  This meant that as the things ran out, the bags became lighter and after a while there were so few things going in, that we stopped. 

The cat's ears

I went over to play with the dogs, including a new shaggy black one called Fritz.  In the meanwhile the group making the ears was going strong and I went over to join them.  They required help in tracing and cutting, and I started with the grey foam, which was being cut in a hexagonal pattern.  I joked that it looked like ‘graphene sheet’ that was being cut into individual ‘cyclohexane’ molecules and Gary, who is a chemist, got the joke.  I wasn’t doing a very clean job of tracing and even a worst job of cutting, when one of my ears got chipped. While we were doing the cat ears, Wilson was making Mickey Mouse ones.  Soon it was time to leave and we started cleaning up, including carrying tables to the basement, which resembled a lounge.  I mentioned that it was good enough for One Brick to have some parties over there.  It had been a fun evening and some of us went out in the evening.  I for one couldn't help but imagine how everyone coming to the ball would look when they all wear these ears that we had made.  Why, someone would even have a chipped one!