An envelope with a donation check inside was recently delivered to Operation Kindness. With it was a note, “This donation honors Taylor Swift, whose perspicacity resulted in a house cat being pictured very becomingly on the cover of Time magazine.”

The $3,000 donation made an impact on us in more ways than one.

“We couldn’t do what we do without the help of our generous supporters,” Ed Jamison, CEO of Operation Kindness said. “When our friends make a donation to Operation Kindness in honor of someone they love, the impact of that generosity only goes further. As Taylor Swift says, ‘karma is a cat’ and we wish the best to our incredible donor who is saving lives with this gift.”

The donor, preferring to remain anonymous, told us that it was only in the last year that that, after hearing Swift’s passion for entertainment excellence being praised repeatedly, a friend played Blank Space and demonstrated the breadth of her artistry. Not long after that he watched Taylor Swift’s NPR Tiny Desk Concert where where her performance of The Man conjured up thoughts of his mother, who earned a PhD in biochemistry in 1948 (with only men on her thesis advisory committee). And of course there is admiration for how Swift loves her three cats, Benjamin Button, Meredith Grey and Olivia Benson.

When he saw Swift choose to pose with one her cats, Benjamin Button, on the cover of Time magazine last year, the donor was inspired to research cats and learned about the Ragdoll cat breed. Swift using her cover experience to showcase the joy of cat ownership impacted the benefactor and inspired the donation to the North Texas animal welfare non-profit. The donor hopes that his donation will empower more Swifties to adopt cats and inspire them to do so.

To welcome Taylor Swift fans to Operation Kindness, we have bestowed seven new kittens with Swift-inspired names. Olivia Benson, Meredith Grey, Benjamin Button, Blank Space, The Man and Karma. All adoptable Operation Kindness animals are spayed/neutered, up to date on vaccines and microchipped.

Last fiscal year, Operation Kindness found homes for more than 3,300 cats in North Texas. Operation Kindness is the only animal welfare organization with a year-round neonatal kitten nursery to provide lifesaving care for baby kittens in Texas. Adoptable cats as well as cats in need of foster homes are listed on our website.

We’re excited to share that we have acquired a new mobile veterinary unit that will enable our non-profit to expand existing community vaccine clinics as well as bring veterinary services to shelter partners. The mobile unit will begin serving the community in July 2024.

In 2023, Operation Kindness’ Community Initiatives team served more than 24,500 animals in Texas with community vaccine, microchip, and wellness clinics, veterinary services for shelter and rescue animals, and veterinary forensic services. The new Operation Kindness mobile veterinary unit will provide us with an enclosed, temperature-regulated space to perform vaccinations and microchipping at clinics, which are often hosted outdoors to provide easy access for members of the community. The mobile unit will also help us with our partner shelter services, as many of its shelter partners do not have surgery suites in their buildings. Operation Kindness’ Community Initiatives team performed over 5,800 shelter and rescue spay/neuter surgeries last year.

“It is always our goal to help pets in the greatest need,” said Ed Jamison, CEO of Operation Kindness. “Operation Kindness’ new mobile unit will allow us to bring lifesaving care for animals to where it is needed most in the community.”

The mobile unit will be stored at Operation Kindness’ new Lifesaving Partnerships Hub in Dallas, near Dallas Animal Services.