A large colony of feral cats motivated Kimberly Stancer to open up a cat rescue in her own backyard in Suffolk.

“I’ve always been a cat lover all my life, and I used to rescue kittens and cats on my own and then take them to animal control,” Stancer said. “A few months ago, I saw a colony of feral cats, and I started to feed them.”

That colony of feral cats led her to create Meow Haven in June.

“It inspired me that I could have a sanctuary built in my backyard. I could not only help this colony of cats, but I could also help other colonies in Suffolk and other cities as well,” Stancer said. “The colony pushed me to where I just had to do this. I couldn’t sit back and watch three females delivering babies at the same time.”

Stancer lives on just under five acres of land, and now one acre of that land is dedicated to a sanctuary. The acre is fenced in and has insulated and heated shelters for the cats to hide.

“We have it fenced in, because I’m right by the Dismal Swamp, and there are hunting dogs and foxes,” Stancer said. “We have two sheds currently and small shelters dispersed everywhere.”

With her current setup and the acre of land, Stancer can bring in at least 60 cats, but having that many cats would require a lot of help. Not only would she need volunteers, but she would need food and financial donations.

The financial donations would help Stancer get the cats spayed or neutered and pay for additional veterinary bills.

Meow Haven is a non-profit, and Stancer decided to become a non-profit so she could receive financial help and donations from her community.

She has already received a good response from the Hampton Roads community and beyond. With the start of her shelter, she has heard from multiple cities looking to bring cats to her, and she is looking at receiving at least 20 more cats from a woman in Norfolk.

“Currently I have 14 cats here, and there is a lady in Norfolk that needs a place to put the feral cats she has been taking care of,” She is in the process of bringing her 20 cats over.”

Even though her organization is months old, Stancer has ideas for plenty of possibilities, which include possibly letting some of the cats be adopted.

“I have a few here that I have been able to tame, so they love people. A lot of them are still feral, and I am in the process of gaining their trust. They aren’t adoptable to people that want indoor cats,” Stancer said.

Stancer is also looking for volunteers to help at Meow Haven, because she will be bringing in more cats.

Volunteers would help Stancer feed and water the cats, transport them to and from the vet and help raise money.

Donations can be made to Meow Haven online at meowhaven.org or by mailing a check to Meow Haven at 3569 Desert Road, Suffolk, VA 23434.