Following Barb MacLeod’s retirement, Orillia's Comfie Cat Shelter is under new leadership.
New shelter manager Matt Wimpory has been a volunteer at the Norweld Drive facility for five years. He first got involved with the shelter when he organized a fundraising concert at Lake Country Grill that raised about $1,800.
“I started showing up to the shelter more and more,” he said. “I started taking on more duties and essentially got to the point where Barb has retired, and I’ve decided to take over.”
Wimpory, 56, has had cats for pets all his life, which is where his passion for the shelter stems from. He says the need for the Comfie Cat Shelter is vital, especially because it’s a no-kill shelter.
“It’s a lot of work, but it’s also very rewarding,” he said. “We don’t get any funding from this city, municipal, provincial, or anywhere else. It’s all donation driven.”
Despite that, the future of the shelter looks promising, Wimpory says.
“We have a good direction and good ideas going forward for dealing with the cats, dealing with sick animals, and dealing with fundraising,” he said. “We have some very good ideas being implemented.”
While the shelter is “full speed ahead,” Wimpory says MacLeod’s legacy and impact will be felt for years to come.
“Barb will have a lasting impact through all the help she has given the community,” he said. “Anybody who had a sick or injured animal contacted Barb for help, and she always helped where she could.”
The cats at Comfie Cat Shelter are treated as family, Wimpory says, which is something that was established by MacLeod.
“You can’t just walk through this door and say you want to adopt a cat and we give you one, that is not what happens,” he said. “We vet the people who adopt very carefully, we talk to their veterinarians, we attempt to ensure to the best of our ability that they go to the proper homes they deserve.”
Right now, there are 105 cats living at the shelter, which is down from the 230 that were housed there three months ago.
“It was completely overloaded, and we had to close down intake because we were overpopulated and needed to provide a level of service to the animals that wasn't happening,” Wimpory explained. “We needed to fix that, which we have.”
It is being projected that the shelter will once again open for intake on March 15, Wimpory says.
The cats living in the shelter are currently being cared for by 42 dedicated volunteers, a number Wimpory hopes to increase.
“A couple of years ago volunteers could commit to large amounts of time,” he said. “Because of the economy and because of the way things are right now, that dynamic has changed a little bit.”
Wimpory, an Orillia District Collegiate & Vocational Institute graduate, says the shelter is always looking for new volunteers to join their team and to fill their vacant time slots.
Because of the hard work of the shelter's fundraising team, Wimpory says the shelter has managed to stay afloat and continue operations. Going forward, Wimpory says the shelter will be successful as long as the community continues to support it. Right now, there is a growing need for monetary, product, and supply donations.
"We have done some historic things year in and year out to fundraise and some of them have been successful, and some of them are dated and need to be replaced,” he said. “We are currently looking at new fundraising mechanisms.”
On Sunday, March 19, the shelter is hosting its St. Paddy’s Breakfast event at Moose Lodge on Kitchener Street from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tickets and more information are available here.
