Business Spotlight

Tell the Chamber a little about yourself personally and professionally?

I am the executive director and board president of Here Today Adopted Tomorrow Animal Sanctuary, Inc. (HTAT), a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit in Brimfield. We help cats and the people who love them in the community, and we operate a cat shelter and offer many complimentary programs to support this mission.

While I have always been an animal lover, I previously worked as an academic scientist–a discipline that taught me to analyze cause and effect and develop actionable strategies for achieving desired results. My first HTAT “experiment” in this vein was to provide shelter cats with a cageless experience to help them become comfortable in their environment and give them the ability to flourish–and it worked! To this day, I apply my analytical skills to create and develop out-of-the-box solutions that support HTAT’s objectives.

Can you share some details about your business, how it started, what services you provide and what plans you have for the future?

HTAT is a 501(c)(3) registered nonprofit that supports cats and the people who love them in the community. With more than 40 years of collective experience in animal welfare, my mother, Barbara Horn, and I saw a critical need to help community cats through shelter and adoption services in and around southwestern Worcester and eastern Hampden and Hampshire counties.

We bought close to 30 acres of land along Route 20 in Brimfield, and in 2012, we co-founded HTAT. Our vision was to provide a cage-free cat shelter to serve the needs of homeless cats to provide a comfortable, low stress setting where they could live until they were ready to go to their new homes.

Today our shelter and adoption services remain an integral component of our mission, and we have expanded to meet community needs. For instance, we have a low-cost spay/neuter program to help area residents who couldn’t otherwise afford to get their cat(s) spayed or neutered–we are also committed to spaying and neutering stray and feral cats, too.

We also run a Pet Food Pantry supporting people in the communities we serve, with pick-up locations in Brimfield, Southbridge, and Ware. We also provide pet food to food pantries in other towns.

In addition, we provide free cat behavior counseling to people who otherwise may think they have no choice but to surrender their cat due to biting, scratching, inappropriate elimination, or other issues.

And we have a Care for Life program, which is designed to cover medical costs of special needs cats who without this support might not get adopted.

It is important to us that HTAT remains a dedicated community resource now and for decades to come. We want to make sure that HTAT is top of mind for people who need help in the communities we serve–Brimfield, Holland, Monson, Palmer, Southbridge, Sturbridge, Wales, Ware, and Warren. And we want to make sure that people in these communities and beyond who want to support our mission know of the good we are doing.

What drives you and your business to be better each day?

It’s the cats and the joy they bring! Knowing that there are innocent, adorable, and grateful beings who need us is a key driver for so many of our staff, our volunteers, our donors, and our community partners. The cats and the kittens we have supported provide unconditional love, friendship, and companionship to their people, so it’s a win-win for everyone involved. Our hope is to continue matching cats with loving people who will, in turn, reap the rewards of building an immeasurable bond with their new pet, and to continue serving the community through a wide range of community-focused programs to support cats and people.

What do you want new and/or existing customers to know about you or your business that they might not know already?

In today’s economy, many people are struggling to pay for food. Local food pantries can be a godsend to people–and pet food pantries provide ancillary relief to offset costs so they can better afford household necessities. HTAT’s Pet Food Pantry is designed to provide such relief and we are inviting area businesses to join us as community partners on this front. Right now, when a business sponsors our upcoming Feline Fun Day celebration, which takes place August 17 at Westview Farms Creamery in Monson, they will automatically be recognized as a Pet Food Pantry community partner through the end of 2024. More information can be found at http://givebutter.com/HTATSponsor.

Can you share why you joined the Quaboag Hills Chamber of Commerce?

I joined QHCC because I wanted to get to know business owners in the local community. Chamber membership can present complimentary opportunities for nonprofits and for-profit businesses alike. Belonging to a chamber group like QHCC also provides members with the opportunity to network and share experiences, as well as a forum for discussing challenges and opportunities for growth, which is so important for community-based sustainability and growth.