Mike Phillips - Vice President (email)

It all began for me when I volunteered with the cat adoption group KITTYKIND during a period of unemployment several years ago. Nearly overnight I was the volunteer coordinator and spending every free moment immersed in finding homes for NY's homeless cats. The next step was becoming president of NEIGHBORHOOD CATS and working to bring attention to New York's feral street cat population. Working to provide the cats with the best health care possible led me to get a degree in Veterinary Technology and become licensed in NY State.

I currently work for New York City Opera in Lincoln Center where I am a resident stage director. In between opera seasons, I work as a Veterinary Technician at the ASPCA working in the Berg Memorial Hospital's I.C.U. and with the ASPCA C.A.R.E.S. program's mobile spay/neuter clinic.

Cathe Neukum - Treasurer (email)

Five years ago there were two street cats in my neighborhood-one with a broken leg and the other with a swollen eye. They were emaciated and not long for this planet. A friend and I trapped them, took them to the vet and then they came home with me. It wasn't long after I noticed more and more cats in my neighborhood, lower Hell's Kitchen. Eventually I met Mike Phillips and we started working together to help get these guys off the streets. Maintaining a feral colony in this neighborhood is not an option and so we created our small sanctuary.

I'm a documentary filmmaker, and my cats were the inspiration to concentrate on making films about animals and their world. Not to sound like a cliché but opening home and heart to these animals is a great gift to give oneself-by helping them, you help yourself.

Paul Backalenick - Secretary, Webmaster (email)

Paul is President of Nexxite, a web design and Internet consulting firm, based in Manhattan (Nexxite.com). He designed and maintains the Urban Cat League website. Paul is deeply committed to animal rights and has long believed that nature must be preserved and protected in a world that is overpopulated and exploited by human beings.

Gretchen Pack - Director (email)

Andrea Holder Orlando - Director of Adoptions (email)

I cannot remember a time when I was not involved in animal rescue activities of some sort. I think that it’s always been a part of my life. My grandmother instilled in me the value of volunteering and giving back to the community in which you live. I have always been passionate about cats and their well-being; TNR seems the natural way for me to give back to my community.

I first became involved in TNR while living in Portland, OR. I was a vet tech at the time and worked on the van at the Feral Cat Coalition Clinic once a month. We neutered over 100 cats each clinic day. It was a thrilling experience and it gave me so much pride to help the feral cats in my community. I also found my first feral cat colony around this time. I still have two cats from that colony. I was young and unconvinced that not every cat could end up being a friendly house cat!

I had never seen so many feral cats until I moved to Brooklyn. I was truly shocked to see cats jumping out of garbage cans, being hit by cars, and starving. The cat population was out of control and my neighbors had no idea what to do. I joined forces with Slope Street Cats and now have a street fully of happy and healthy ear tipped cats. It’s been a wonderful way to get to know my neighbors and help to create a safe space for feral cats in Prospect Heights. I feel so much pride when I see one of my ear tipped feral cats poke their head out of their winter shelter hoping that it’s feeding time!

I have always enjoyed helping people find their feline soul mates and helping rescuers find adopters. I adopted out my first litter of kittens when I was 16 and it hasn’t let up since then! I enjoy every part of the process and find it to be a very rewarding part of rescue work. There is no better feeling than getting friendly cats off of the street and into “forever homes.”

Advisory Board

Ashot Karamian (email) - Ashot has been doing TNR for over 25 years. He recalls helping animals since early childhood - cats, dogs, birds, reptiles. His favorite rescue was Sheila, an abandoned five month old German Shepard lost in the streets of Queens. Sheila was taken in and lived to be 16 years old. He is currently very active with TNR, and is proficient in designing and making feral cat shelters that camouflage in their environment. He holds an MBA in finance and is employed at Columbia University.

Ellen Richard - Managing Director of Roundaout Theatre

Lisa Weisberg - Senior Vice President of Government Affairs and Public Policy at the ASPCA.

Dan Breton - Dan is the founder of Ganglion Films and an award-winning filmmaker who specializes in the natural world. He filmed and edited UCL's video "Tough Love, Socializing Feral Kittens"

Elana Goren-Totino - Logo Designer. Elana's graphic design company is called Spider Ink Design.

Rose-Marie Whitelaw (email) - I got sucked into this crazy world of TNR & kitten wrangling 2 years ago, when my husband & I bought a wreck house in the South Slope. I discovered a platoon of cats in the yard – 17 strong.  The Toms were fighting & 7 kittens from 3 litters were in the shed. I joined with Slope Street Cats, & we got busy trapping & neutering. I scooped out the 7 kittens hissing & biting - and I took them to the vet: cha-ching cha-ching, but got them healthy & socialized and all nice homes. My neighbors thought I was nuts but became grateful when they realized how peaceful it is out there now.

As well as fostering most of the kittens from other colonies, I hosted all the ASPCA Mobile Units for SSC throughout 2005 & 2006 & offered my basement for recovery space. I rehabbed 15 kittens in total in 2005, 106 in 2007 (which nearly killed me), and have fostered 45 this year - so far. I have learned so much from all this work, and can now hydrate kittens & give vaccines.  However the more I learn the more I realize I don't know.

My goals with Urban Cat League, include expanding the number of foster homes, because currently a few people end up doing most of the work & fostering. These volunteers, like myself, quite understandably get burned out & broke.  Besides, it is potentially dangerous, because of various diseases, to foster too many litters in one place.

In order to achieve this, I plan to develop protocols on the web, for  people who find kittens, so they can step up and care for them themselves with confidence. We can support them with play pens, basic medications and guidance for health & socializing, as well as adoption support when the kitties are ready. We need more support of local Vets & Vet Techs as well as people who  know how to fundraise.  Kitten rehab is rewarding but expensive!