What a purr-fect gift idea for an animal lover.
The folks at The Book Man are launching their second charity cat calendar campaign to benefit Chilliwack Animal Safe Haven Society.
The inaugural calendar of 2011 exclusively featured the über-popular store cat, Nietzsche, in a variety of media from watercolours and sketches to pastels and photography.
The 2013 edition will be also showcase other hard-working cats around the 'Wack, along with the Book Man's feline host.
"There are some very special cats around town who all 'go to work' every day just like Nietzsche," said Amber Short, owner of the Book Man.
Many talented local photographers snapped images of six cats for the calendar, including the multi-coloured Pepper from Country Garden, Martin from Video Tonite, Gatsby from the Abbotsford Branch of The Book Man, Cotton from Cottonwood Veterinary, Darcat from Dargatz Glass and of course, Nietzsche.
They even tucked in a short bio about each cat so that people can get to know them.
"We encourage supporters to go visit the cats in their workplaces as well!" Short said.
Last year they raised $2895.20 for Safe Haven, with the sale of the cat calendar, and four bookmarks in limited printings.
"We love that people can make a contribution to a worthy cause like Safe Haven and get something meaningful in return," she added.
"It would be a dream come true to collectively raise $5000 for Safe Haven this year, and we're going to do our very best to hit that goal through the sale of calendars, bookmarks and framed photographs."
Nietzsche was originally adopted from Chilliwack Animal Safe Haven Society in 2008.
"He has touched a many lives in his position at The Book Man, and we really felt that it was time for us to allow him to give back to the shelter that helped him find his way to us," she said. "He is such a happy and quirky cat, comfortable, at home and very spoiled, and none of us ever would have had the pleasure of knowing him if it wasn't for Ena Vermerris and her dedicated team of volunteers at Safe Haven."
The calendar $16.99 at Minter Country Garden Store, The Book Man, and Dargatz Glass.
There are bookmarks of each of the cats in the calendar, with multiples of both Nietzsche and Gatsby, which are "Paw-tographed" by Nietzsche as his "seal of approval" on the project with a custom made stamp of his very own paw print.
The bookmarks will be $5 each, and framed art prints of all of the cats are also available for $9 each.
See more at www.bookman.ca
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