By Gabby Miller

MARIETTA, Ga—When she wanted a change in her life Janette Kalas started volunteering at Good Mews after going through a hard time in her life.

Back in 2021, when things started to open from COVID-19, Kalas had to take her mother’s cat to a shelter. Her mother was going into care, so Kalas had to find a place for all of her mother’s cats. This led Kalas to Good Mews after learning about it from her stepfather.

“My mom had a lot of cats and Good Mews helped find them new homes.” Kalas Says “Eventually Good Mews has gotten them all adopted.”

Kalas was so inspired by how her mother’s cats were adopted at Good Mews that she joined volunteer team. A few years ago, she joined the volunteer team.

She started in the Daily Care committee. Daily care does the dirtier jobs at Good Mews. Volunteers clean the shelter area by changing litter boxes and disinfecting the cat’s living areas. Daily Care also cleans after the cats that just enter the shelter.

Later, Kalas decided to leave the Daily Care committee behind and join the Med committee. At Good Mews, the Med committee helps the facility’s veterinarians. They help by making the cats take their assigned medications. With hard work, Kalas eventually became the co-chair of the Med committee.

Kalas saw the cats eventually get adopted as she did her volunteer shifts. She saw how Good Mews has affected the cats and even the people’s lives with just the personalities of the cats.

“Good Mews has affected my life in so many ways.” Kalas said “It’s so worthwhile to get the cats adopted.”

Good Mews is a cage-free cat shelter. It is one of the few cage-free shelters in Georgia. This company was founded by Gloria Skeen Cornell. It is a non-profit, and It relies on donations and volunteers to help the shelter.

Good Mews has been open for thirty-six years, and over the years, thousands of cats have been finding their forever homes. Since Good Mews has been open, over 13,300 cats have been adopted. For this year alone, over 387 cats have been adopted and moved into their forever homes.

There are a few differences between the process at cage-free and regular shelters. There are more differences between one who has cats in little kennels and one who does not. At Good Mews, despite being a cage-free shelter, different protocols are in place when taking in cats.

Despite being a cage-free shelter, there is an intake period at Good Mews. New cats are brought into the shelter and placed in an intake room. Where the cat is in a quarantine of sorts to find out if it has any ailments. Regular shelters do quarantine their animals as well. However, the key difference is that Good Mews eventually puts the cat in its designated room, depending on the age of the cat, whereas the animal at a regular shelter stays in a crate until they are adopted.

But all cats start at the same place when they are in a new area. All cats come to shelters scared of the new and unknown surroundings due to not liking the unknown. It does not matter if the cat is at a regular shelter or at a cage-free shelter like Good Mews they come in scared. It doesn’t matter what kind of shelter they are placed in.

Elizabeth S. is an employee at our local PetSmart in Kennesaw. Elizabeth has been taking care of the cats in the cat room for three years, and she loves every minute of it. Each day, Elizabeth comes into work and takes care of the cats that are available for adoption. Elizabeth has hands-on experience with cats coming in scared and eventually coming out of the shell when they get used to their surroundings.

“Chester over here is nine years old.” Elizabeth says “When he first came here he was very scared. He wasn’t eating much but overtime he became super sweet and he started eating regularly.”

Bob Kalas is Janette Kalas’s husband. He found out about Good Mews when Janette had to take her mom’s cats to the facility. When she started volunteering, Bob would come every time she worked when Good Mews was open to the public.

While his wife was working, he would familiarize himself with the adult cats at the shelter. He believes in giving the adult cats more love and attention than the kittens. When you go to Good Mews and see him you would always see him in the adult cat room and giving every cat love.

“It takes a special kind of person adopt a adult cat.” Bob says “The adults have so much personality than the kittens.”

Bob is a guest at Good Mews. With his wife volunteering, he always accompanies her to see the cats. He likes to see who stays and who goes. Make sure to give extra love to the cats who have not found their forever homes yet. This makes Bob come back every time to just see the different cats that just came in or to visit the familiar faces of the cats he has bonded with.

“I go back to Good Mews to just love on the kitties.” Bob says “To see who’s here and who isn’t. And in the worst-case scenario who comes back.”

People come to Good Mews looking for one common thing. They come to Good Mews to find change in their lives. Whether you are working as a volunteer, adopting, or even coming as a guest, Good Mews is truly a place where each cat can touch one’s heart which truly changes our lives one cat at a time.

Gabby Miller is a student at Kennesaw State University