Catwomen team up for kitty benefit
For one night, Camp Cataract is going to the cats.
The new Niagara Falls pub turns the stage over to Niagara singers Ashlee Standish and Laurel Minnes tonight at 9 for a benefit show to help out Hope for Cats Rescue. Tickets are $10.
Founded by local resident Victoria Hope, Hope for Cats is a private rescue service which saves felines in distress and pairs them up with new homes afterwards. It often requires expensive trips to the veterinarian.
Standish, who owns two cats herself, says she was “trying not to cry” reading about what the charity does in Niagara. She met Hope at another event and told her she’d like to do something in the future to help with the vet bills.
“She pretty much gets these cats dropped off that are very sick or dying, and she and her volunteers nurse them back to health and she gets them forever homes.”
After Standish’s friends Adam Buller and Katie Webb opened Camp Cataract in downtown Niagara Falls in October, she had the perfect venue. Heck, it even has ‘cat’ in the name.
It wasn’t difficult convincing fellow animal-lover Minnes to hop aboard.
Both singers are busy with their own bands recently — Standish with Whatzername and Minnes with Miniscule — but are tag-teaming it for the cats.
“I rarely play solo these days, so it’s forcing me to step outside my comfort zone,” says Minnes. “But I’m excited to collaborate with Ashlee and will do pretty much anything to help cats.”
In addition to the live music, Standish says funny YouTube cat videos will be shown on the club’s TVs.
“I realize some people don’t love cats, but I think anyone can understand when you see an injured animal,” says Standish. “This woman does it out of her heart and her home. That’s what really moved me.”
Standish teaches piano by day. One of her students, Isabella Beccairo, will open the show. Ending the set will be veteran Niagara band A Book For Wanderers.