Mopsy, a one-eyed kitten, currently lives in a collapsible wire crate alongside several other cats in the lobby of Griffin Pond Animal Shelter due to animal overcrowding.
The crates lack privacy and are difficult to clean.
“You have to deep clean every single bar, you know, and that's very time-consuming when you have 250 animals that you have to care for daily in a shelter environment,” said Sherry Crolly, the shelter's development director.
Soon, six of these “lobby cats,” as they're affectionately called, will move to a new and improved habitat as part of a lobby renovation project at the South Abington Twp. shelter. The project is being undertaken in collaboration with Leadership Lackawanna’s Core Program Class of 2025.
“We're really excited about having the lobby makeover with them,” Crolly said.
Leadership Lackawanna is a community leadership and professional development organization. In the 10-month Core Program, members enhance leadership skills and expand their awareness of issues relevant to the Greater Scranton region. They also devote a large portion of their time to developing and implementing community projects.
The renovation project will remedy sanitation issues and make aesthetic improvements in the lobby. The cages will be replaced by Cat StaX condo-like structures, which will be easier to clean and provide the cats with larger, more private spaces.
Griffin Pond Animal Shelter, a no-kill shelter funded exclusively through private donations, cares for more than 250 animals daily. About 180 of those animals are cats.
The shelter has been at maximum capacity since 2023, and Crolly said pet adoptions are declining nationwide.
“Veterinarian costs have increased a great deal, food prices have increased a great deal, and people just can't afford it right now,” Crolly said. “After COVID, a lot of the rentals don't allow animals. So, a lot of people can't adopt, or, you know, are having to give up their animals because they have nowhere else to go.”
This contributed to the overflow of cats into the lobby.
In addition to the difficult-to-clean cages, the current lobby set up poses other challenges.
“Like this couch,” Crolly said. “It's not good to have upholstery in a shelter environment because we have to clean with a certain chemical called Rescue because of animal diseases and all of that.”
The couch will be replaced with one that can be wiped down. Other renovations plans include a fresh coat of paint in the hallway and improved merchandise and storage areas. And a Marywood University student will paint a mural behind the new couch, which will be used as a background for adoption photos.
Six members of the Leadership Lackawanna Core Program Class of 2025 are working on the project: Mallory Coyne with United Concordia, Amy Fotta with Marywood University, John Kasaczun with Tobyhanna Army Depot, Brian Kasperowski with Nunzi’s Advertising, Jordan McAndrew with Montage Mountain and Erin Nissley with The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education.
“The difference is going to be amazing,” Kasperowski said. “It’s going to just create a better flow for the employees, the volunteers, the people coming to adopt, but, you know, the most important and biggest part is that it's going to make the animals feel a lot more comfortable.”
This partnership comes after Leadership Lackawanna previously helped Griffin Pond Animal Shelter build a clinic and surgery room upstairs.
“We had great success with them,” Crolly said. “So, we thought, why not apply?”
After their application was accepted, an appropriate team was assigned to the project.
“I feel like the team that we're really paired up with right now is, like, huge animal lovers,” Crolly said. “They just really have gone over and beyond.”
The Leadership Lackawanna group will raise about $9,000 to fund the project. This month, a calendar raffle got them more than halfway to their goal.
In March, the group will fully launch a campaign highlighting the lobby cats on social media to raise money for the Cat StaX.
“I’m very proud to be working on this,” Kasperowski said. “I’m very proud to be in the group that I’m in.”
The renovations should be completed by April 25.
Leadership Lackawanna is accepting donations for the project via Paypal or credit card at leadershiplackawanna.com/donate. Checks should be mailed by April 25 and made payable to Leadership Lackawanna with “Griffin Pond Lobby Project” in the note and mailed to Leadership Lackawanna, c/o Nicole Morristell, 222 Mulberry St., Scranton, PA 18503.
