The spark that ignited: Our first steps towards Love All Feed All

One day in 2019 the cacophony of lunchtime traffic faded into the background as a small, scrawny cat materialized beside my table. Its eyes, large and pleading, fixed on the sandwich in my hand. While I looked into its eyes I felt sad and kept thinking about how that poor little thing roams streets looking for something to eat, my negative emotions wad subsided immediately after I fed it and since that moment I decided to feed stray cats.

Initially, I shared my leftovers, but I soon realized they needed more consistent nutrition. So, I started buying dry food (kibble).Then the corona Pandemic occurred and unfortunately lots of people in my neighborhood started to abandon their pets in the streets, it was devastating. I’ll never forget the day I found a cat shivering under a bush. He was old, thin and covered in fleas, he also had severe wounds around his ears and neck, and he couldn’t stop scratching himself. I was shocked, and didn’t know what to do as it was late and all the veterinary clinics nearby were closed. Next day I took the day off because I wasn’t able to leave him suffering and took him to the vet, and I was told that he was suffering from several infections including ear-mites. The vet prescribed the proper medication and after that I nursed him back to health, and eventually found him a loving forever home which wasn’t easy at all due to the lack of local shelters. That experience solidified my commitment to helping these vulnerable creatures.

Then my husband and I began to provide basic medical care for them like anti fleas and de-worming medicine. We also began rescuing injured or abandoned sick animals even spaying and vaccinating some of them, to control the population. One day my husband and I came across Bob the cat; he was a victim of a road accident, where his back legs were tragically injured. He was also suffering from sores from being unable to move. We immediately took him to the vet and after nearly a month of care, Bob walked again! Our hearts swelled with joy.

We started to advocate for stray animals within our community, and I was surprised that some of my family members and neighbors were thanking us, and started to follow our steps. Seeing our neighbor, leave out a bowl of food for the strays with a smile spread across her face, filled us with a quiet pride. I knew then that our efforts were making a difference and that’s how I built relationships with other animal lovers.

The main problem we faced with feeding strays was the sudden disappearance of good quality dry food from the market due to an economic crisis in my country. So we had to cook soft meals for them which was exhausting as we were working more than 8 hours a day, and we needed almost 2 hours daily to prepare their meals, but it was healthier for them and cheaper, after almost 6 months the imported dry food was available again but the price was tripled and we couldn’t afford it, so we kept cooking them soft food and shifted to a local good quality brand, which was very difficult as at this point due to the lack of regulations, some local brands were very low quality that caused health problem like kidney failure to some pets , so we had to be careful about what we were feeding them. Our main notion was to help them, not to feed them something harmful. Eventually we’ve found some good local brands and we’ve been using them since.

So in almost 4 years we’ve fed hundreds of stray cats, neutered around 5 cats in our neighborhood, rescued 4 abandoned cats and helped several injured or sick animals and still do. And on the top of that we’ve influenced some of our family, friends, and neighbors to look after strays. One day me and my colleague were leaving work and outside of the work building I found a stray kitten so I opened my bag to give her some of the cat food which I always carry with me whenever I go out, because I know wherever I go I will find a hungry animal, my colleague was impressed and after a couple of days she called me to ask about a few tips as she was inspired by my actions and decided to feed strays in her block as well. I was over the moon, she really made my day and I realized that kindness is contagious (like my husband always says) and together we can make a difference.

Feeding stray cats and looking after them was much easier than stray dogs for two reasons; first cats are more welcomed in our society and secondly they also more independent. But since the life of stray cats has improved in my community we decided it’s time to pay more attention to dogs, and in order to provide money for this I decided in 2024 that I don’t want any gifts or celebration for my birthday, instead I want to use the money to help stray dogs. My family was surprised at first but they were supportive, I used the money to feed some strays in non residential areas, bought a stock of general anti parasitic for summer and spayed one dog in our street. I can’t describe how delightful that was.
The main problem we face looking after stray dogs is the high cost of medical services including vaccination, sterilization and the increasing price of general anti parasitic. So far we have managed to keep things self-funded, and overall decided it would be best to avoid structuring an initiative that requires constant donations to remain operational. However, with rising costs and inflation, and economic struggles ahead, we concluded to build a trust based foundation.

The funds in the trust would be used to hedge inflation and costs, over the long-term by placing the fund into a high yield savings. We found the best and most transparent way to setup the trust was via the Solana block-chain. Allowing any transactions or funds raised to be seen and completely transparent, and to avoid high fees for transfers. We plan to make a structured goal / roadmap later on, but for now the funds will remain on-chain and not be used until we reach what we will is enough to create a yield, without using any of the original capital.

We strive to improve the lives of stray animals through animal-centric decisions such as regular feeding and dedicated TNR programs, we also work to break down the stigma surrounding stray dogs and educate the public about their vital role in the ecosystem. But our main goal is to show people that animals have needs and feelings; they’re sentient and a little love and patience can transform their lives.
We’re hoping to create a community where animals and humans can coexist harmoniously.