Northern Tasmania's Just Cats has re-homed about 8000 cats and kittens since is began in 2012 and is being recognised for its work in the Tasmanian Community Achievement Awards.
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The organisation, founded by Rachel Beech, is nominated for a state Community Group of the Year Award. Ms Beech founded the company after she rescued and re-homed a mother cat and a litter of kittens which were found by a farmer.
Volunteer project manager Sheena Harris is also nominated for an Outstanding Achiever Award for her vital work with the charity and helping its expansion.
Ms Harris said the charity's growth had been spectacular to watch, with it growing to have a six person board, employing seven staff, 49 volunteers and 36 foster carers.
"Just Cats resilience, commitment and perseverance is what sets it apart," she said.
"Their mantra 'where every cat that has a whisper of a chance... gets a chance' is firmly embedded in the culture."
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It operates out of two sites, one on acreage in Longford and one out of the old RSPCA site at Mowbray.
However due to COVID-19 the charity experienced an increase of cats coming into the shelter and had to innovate to cope.
"This meant, with a high number coming into the shelter and an increasing demand for adoptions, the need for desexing tripled," Ms Harris said.
"A 'pay and stay' program was introduced. This meant the community were able to choose their new cat, pay for it upfront to 'secure' the adoption but the cat remained at the shelter until it was desexed.
"At one point there was over 200 cats and kittens at the shelter awaiting desexing."
Ms Harris is being recognised for her work with the charity, as the chairperson of the board in 2018/19, to get it registered as a cat management facility by the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment.
Submitting an application to get the accreditation was something that had never been done before.
"The only accredited organisations that existed in Tasmania were RSPCA and Ten Lives Cat centre, both of who had been gifted accreditation when the Cat Management Act came into force in 2009," she said.
"Just Cats has some 400 cats in care at any one time over the dual sites and our foster care base.
"Without the work put in over the past 12 months ... these cats and kittens may not have had the second chance of a loving caring home, the people of the ... region may not have had a place to take their beloved cats when their own health failed and they could no longer care for their cats, nor when a cat owner passed away and their beloved cat was left without someone to care for them.
"That's what keeps me motivated in supporting this great organisation and the work I do."
The winners of the Tasmanian Community Achievement Awards categories will be announced on November 6.
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