Community donates over $12,000 to keep local cat cafe open

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - Hundreds of people in Southern Colorado have made donations to the Comfort and Joy Cat Cafe in downtown Colorado Springs after the local business asked the community for help last month.

"It kind of blew our minds how much the community rallied together to support us," employee Naiya-Marie Greve said.

In September, the cat cafe said it was struggling financially and posted a GoFundMe link in the hopes of raising some money to help with supplies for the cats and business operations to keep their foster shelter open. Comfort and Joy Cat Cafe fosters cats for the Teller County Regional Animal Shelter (TCRAS) and Safe Place for Pets.

"It's just tremendous to know that they have this space available, and they can be more themselves and find that special person who is going to be their forever person," co-owner Sharon Mullally said.

Since then, over 250 people have donated over $12,000 to help the cafe stay open. It's a private business and not a non-profit, as the owners make clear on the GoFundMe page.

The cafe said it has helped nearly 100 cats find new homes since opening.

Tune into "Good Morning Colorado" to watch KRDO13's Bradley Davis speak with the owner and play with some cute adoptable cats!