Lolapalooza raises money for Lola Love Fund

By Arien Roman-Rojas The Emporia Gazette

The Street Cats Club hosted their annual Lolapalooza fundraiser Saturday, July 12 to raise money for spay and neutering services for cats.

Lolapalooza raises money for the Lola Love Fund, a fund named after Street Cat Clubs darling Lola Walker, an advocate for stray cats and the founder of Purralot Kitty Rescue.

“It was a really big honor to create a fund that was in her name and then also to create a fundraiser that was in her name,” Victoria Partridge, the founder and executive director of the Street Cats Club said.

The event took place on the 900 block of Commercial st. From 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. the block was filled with music, bouncy houses, food trucks and vendors all contributing to the family fun.

For Melissa Lowery, the board president of the Street Cats Club, this fundraiser is a way to provide the community with some summer activities while still raising money for a good cause.

“We love that we have this event that is so kid friendly and family friendly. There isn’t a lot of stuff going on downtown during the sumeer so it’s a lot of fun to put this on for the families and the community,” Lowery said.

The Lola Love Fund came out of a desire to fix cat overpopulation in the Emporia community. Partridge said that after getting a call from an individual in 2022 who ended up with 86 cats in their home due to lack of access to low-cost spay and neuter services, the need for a fund like this became obvious.

“Even though there are resources here for people to get reduced costs, spay and neuter for their animals, there are some people who cannot afford reduced costs. They need no cost,” Partridge said.

Lowery spoke about some of the repercussions that come with having an overpopulation of stray cats in the community, among those poor quality of life for the cats, inconveniencing property owners and attracting predators who can then have easier access to owned pets.

“I think that we really need to be talking about the community health aspect of it because the city needs to be stepping up and other government entities need to be stepping up because it is about the quality of life here in Emporia,” Lowery said.

The Street Cats clubs host several events to contribute money to the Lola Love Fund like drag brunch bingo, and a black cat ball in October. For Partridge the goal is for the community to enjoy themselves.

“Ultimately we want people to come out and have a really good time,” Partridge said.

Lolapalooza usually raises between $3,000 and $5,000 all to be donated to the Lola Love Fund.

After three years, the event’s continued success has had the Street Cats Club considering expanding the event.

“We want to be a compassionate community and we want our visitors to know that we take care of each other and that includes animals,” Lowery said.