My Nonprofit Reviews

Called HAWC and even though we had never dealt with them before, they sent someone to the hospital to advocate for my friend after a violent sexual assault. The woman they sent was a rape survivor, and made sure all procedures were followed correctly, gave emotional support, and even brought a clean set of sweat pants and a clean t-shirt, so my friend would have clothing to wear home.

What was truly awesome about our experience was the free of charge sexual assault counseling we were both able to participate in at the Women's Center. It was basically group therapy, run by a counselor and the survivors themselves, meeting once a week and encouraging each other. Wonderful resource. This was back when Ellen Cohen was the CEO there, and we are excited to see her go on to be involved in local politics. We love you, Ellen!

We found an adorable small cat and were unable to keep her. She was so cute, and we live in an area with a lot of traffic, so we needed to find a safe place for her. We already have four rowdy cats, and wanted to make sure this cat would not be put down, so a neighbor told us about this cat rescue holding adoptions at a local Pet Smart, and gave us the phone number of a woman named Sharon.

We called Sharon, and she told us she would accept the cat, especially if we could make a donation to her charity. And she insisted that we not meet her at Petsmart, but at her home. Well, our neighbors took up a donation, and we were happy that we could make a $200 donation to her charity, so we met up with the woman, gave her the sweet little cat, and gave her the check for $200. She was not happy.

We were surprised to hear that she was not happy with that amount, and she mentioned that she would have to "spend several hundred dollars" on the cat, clearly expecting us to come up with more money. We told her we didn't have any more money, and she crammed the cat in a rusty, wire cage, and had us make the check out to "Cat Rescue". A week later, we received a call from a neighbor, who told us that when she asked about the cat, the woman reported back that she had NEVER gotten any money from us at all, but she took the cat anyway. Our neighbor was embarrassed, thought we had taken the money, and gave her an ADDITIONAL $200, and came home, telling everyone we took the money. Thank goodness, we were able to provide a copy of the canceled check to everyone, which, by the way, had been cashed the very next day after we gave it to her.

For a non-profit cat rescue organization, charging someone $400 to accept a cat just isn't right. We would have waited to take her to the ASPCA if we knew that was her deal. And the big lie about never getting the money really aggravates me. I don't know about the legality of how this was done, but I do know it was extremely unethical, and the whole thing had a shady vibe to it. This "charity" will never get another penny from us.