Our story
Texas CARES was founded as a 501c3 non-profit ( EIN: 75-2489842) cat rescue on June 22, 1993, by Marjorie Murphy. We are one of the oldest cat-only rescues in Texas and are excited to have just celebrated our 30th birthday!
Texas CARES works with shelters in the area to assist them when they are overcrowded or overwhelmed. The number of kitties we can take in is based on the foster space we have available then. Examples of some local shelters are Mesquite Animal Shelter (AS), The Colony AS, Carrollton AS, Plano AS, Flower Mound AS, Lewisville AS, Irving AS and Addison AS, Mesquite AS & Mineral Wells AS and Collin County AS.
Our Adoptable cats and kittens are available at our PetSmart Adoption Center in Prosper, Earthwise in Frisco, and Petco in Plano. We also have monthly adoption events at Hollywood Feed in McKinney and soon at The Cat Connection in Farmers Branch.
All of our adoptable kitties are seen by one of our trusted veterinary partners as soon as they are brought into our organization. They are tested for the feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) and feline leukemia virus (FeLV), fecal tested, and receive age-appropriate vaccinations and a microchip. If of age and weight, they are fixed. We provide spay/neuter vouchers for kittens adopted under 16 weeks of age.
Our Funding and Expenses
Texas CARES receives no government or public funding. Instead, we rely solely on the generosity of private donors, who are individuals, charitable foundations, and corporations to fund our operations, allowing us to rescue and adopt cats.
Donations
Texas CARES raises money in various ways, including online fundraisers like candle and cookie sales. We also raise funds at in-person events like Santa Photos and Easter Bunny Photos. Our largest fundraiser of the year is North Texas Giving Day.
Operating & Administrative Expenses
First and foremost, veterinary expenses. We have many trusted veterinary partners who are wonderful to our adoptable cats and kittens and value them very much. They offer rescue discounts, but we are still out of pocket quite a bit, especially during kitten season. And our Adoption Fees only cover a portion of the veterinary expenses for each adoptable cat.
Donations also go towards general and administrative expenses, general liability and volunteer accident insurance, marketing costs, postage, telephone expenses, internet and web hosting services, and several cloud software subscriptions to manage the organization. We also strive to provide our fosters with the supplies they need. In addition, we incur fees to accept credit cards and host an annual appreciation day to honor more than 350 Texas CARES volunteers.
Texas CARES Mission
Find permanenthomes for our cats.
Educate the public about Texas CARES
Educate the public about responsible pet ownership.
Recruit volunteers and acquire support.
Our History
Texas CARES was incorporated on June 22, 1993, by Marjorie Murphy.
Texas CARES, and about twenty other animal rescue groups were founded when the McKinney SPCA and Dallas SPCA merged to become the SPCA of Texas. We became the first ‘cat only’ adoption group in DFW.
Our Volunteers
Approximately 350 people play one or more Texas CARES volunteer roles, from board members to those who help keep the kitties’ cages maintained.
Volunteers are not paid in monetary terms. However, they are paid in very special ways, including the love that is returned to them by our kitties as they wait for adoption and the joy of seeing them adopted into their forever homes.
Board of Directors
The board of directors, under the general supervision of the president, manages Texas CARES’ activities, property, and affairs. A profile of each board member follows.
Open
President
We are currently accepting applications for this role.
Krista Shull
Vice President
Krista has a pure love of animals. She has volunteered with Texas CARES for over 15 years, starting as a foster parent and working as a weekend volunteer. Krista has been privileged to serve as a board member since 2016. She has participated in the fundraising committee and serves as the volunteer coordinator and adopt-a-pet support coordinator. Krista received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of North Texas and works in human resources/staffing in the real estate industry. She continues to foster and has 3 wonderful rescue cats of her own.
Jennifer Bohler
Secretary
Jennifer has been working with Texas CARES since 2017, starting as a foster, then becoming a Senior, and later assisting in running the Adopt-a-Pet sessions at our partner PetSmart’s Prosper location on Saturdays and Sundays. In 2019 she started supporting Laura Latham in scheduling vet appointments and maintaining the organization’s database and the cats’ medical records. She joined the Board of Directors in 2023. Jennifer is originally from Northampton, MA. She has a B.A. in Project Management from American Intercontinental University. Her hobbies include cooking and singing and she has three beautiful rescue cats- Nikki, Linda, and Liza.
John Lindsay
Treasurer
John has been a longtime Texas CARES volunteer for over twenty years since adopting his first kitten from Texas CARES in 1997. In recent years, John served as Texas CARES Board President from 2016-2019. Currently, as Treasurer and the business operations leader, John focuses on the organization’s finances and maintains the public website, as well as all internal information systems, business applications, databases, communication and technology platforms for Texas CARES. John holds an MBA in Corporate Finance from the University of Dallas, and undergraduate degrees from the University of Texas at Dallas, and a graduate certificate in Dispute Resolution / Mediation from Southern Methodist University. John has a senior leadership role as the chief operating officer for a division of a global Fortune 25 technology company.
Shawn Greenberg
Board Member
Shawn began volunteering with Texas CARES in 1994. She has had several different roles on the board and is currently serving as the foster/intake coordinator. This role includes working with local shelters and the public to coordinate cat rescues and placement of them with kitty foster parents, recruiting and screening foster volunteers, and consultation and education for animal care and welfare. Shawn holds a BA from Western Michigan University with minors in English, Creative Arts, and Elementary Education. She has been a teacher for 26 years in Plano. She is a kindergarten team leader at an International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program (IB PYP) candidate school. She also serves on the board of directors for the Arts Center Theater in Plano and is a dog trainer for Fido’s Finest.
Jennifer Savage
Board Member & Acting President
Jennifer has been working with Texas Cares since 2011. She started volunteering as a cage cleaner and continues in that role at our adoption locations. In 2018 she began fostering for Texas Cares and has seen many of her former fosters go on to be adopted into forever homes. She has five cats of her own who serve as ambassadors to the fosters and help them become more socialized. Jennifer joined the Board of Directors in 2020. She has a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin. She is currently a senior scrum master for a healthcare software company. Beyond kitten care, Jennifer enjoys camping, hiking, getting outside and traveling with her family.
Laura Latham
Member
Laura Latham began volunteering at a local shelter in 2013. Seeing a need for a volunteer rescue program, she began a 501(c)3 with a friend. It was a successful venture and the city has since taken over the implementation of that program. Laura has an affinity for cats and decided to narrow her focus to “cats only”. Joining Texas CARES gave her the opportunity to utilize her animal medical experience and vet coordination skills to provide the cats that are a part of Texas CARES with a strong medical foundation prior to their adoption. Laura is married to Alex, a stroke survivor and lives with numerous fur children. She volunteers not only for Texas CARES but also for her local Elementary Library, The Stroke Center Dallas, and for Aphasia Recovery Connection.
Wendy Woody
Member
Wendy has been a cat lady all her life, starting the minute she brought home a stray kitten and said, “Can I keep it?” She began volunteering with Texas CARES in 2007, starting off on the clean team and helping out with adoption events. Not long after becoming a senior volunteer, she took on the role of Adoption Coordinator, and later joined the Texas CARES Board. The role of Adoption Coordinator consists of screening adoption applications to help place our cats into the home that best suits them. Wendy holds a BA from Texas A&M University in Business/Marketing. She took one class in TV production however, and that’s the one that mattered. She has spent her entire career in TV news production and currently directs live news for KNBC in Los Angeles. While she enjoys being able to volunteer remotely, she looks forward to returning back to her home in great state of Texas in the future.