Baker Park’s main attraction was not the swings or slides on Saturday afternoon — instead, it was a tent full of kittens.
The fifth annual Rally for Rescues, hosted by local cat rescue Paws and Claws, drew over 300 people and their pets to its fall-themed event.
This year’s rally was the largest one so far, according to founder and Executive Director Ashlynn Boyce, who described it as a “pinch-me moment.” The first iteration of the event had fewer than 150 attendees, Boyce said.
“Now, we have a staff of seven and over 380 volunteers,” she said. “It’s grown a lot, and it’s really sweet to see how many people turned up and how many people feel strongly about our mission.”
Community partners set out fall and cat-themed tables at the event. The Vintage Cat sold cat-themed knick-knacks, local band GreenTTea & the Tempos played live jazzy music and 4 Suns Plant Based Kitchen held a farm stand. Many of the partners donated a portion, if not all, of their proceeds to Paws and Claws, Boyce said.
The event charged $10 for admission, and the money primarily went toward The Porchlight Fund, a Paws and Claws fund that covers the gap between the cost to save a feline’s life and the cost to adopt, according to the organization’s website.
The Paws and Claws’ onsite shelter on Chicago Avenue currently houses about 50 cats, Boyce said. In total, the organization has 175 cats under its care with the help of foster families.
In the past five years, the organization has saved the lives of more than 3,000 cats, according to Boyce. The Paws and Claws team is on track to save 1,000 in 2025 alone.
Events like Rally for Rescues help get cats adopted, Boyce said. Though no one takes home a cat the same day, the organization receives an influx of applications, she said.
Rogers Park resident and cat fosterer Laura Fresh brought her cat, Dan Ryan, with her in a cat transport backpack. Fresh has fostered eight cats for Paws and Claws and adopted Dan Ryan after a “foster fail” experience.
“Dan was my eighth foster cat, but I knew he was the one,” Fresh said. “I just realized he was my cat.”
Paws and Claws board member Lauree Peterson-Sakai joined the organization two years ago, a year after moving to Evanston.
Peterson-Sakai has rescue cats and decided to join Paws and Claws to support its mission.
“It’s about the animals, but it’s also about people and community,” Peterson-Sakai said. “It’s a really wonderful organization, and that’s why I said, ‘Hey, I’ll be a board member,’ because, to me, you’ve got to support what you believe in.”
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