For the jilted and the jaded, Valentine’s Day can be crappy. The Rhode Island SPCA appreciates that.
The animal welfare organization designed an unusual fundraiser around the idea. For a $10 donation, you can give them the name of someone or something on your “S” list. (In this case, the “S” doesn’t stand for “special.”)
“It’s called Love Stinks,” said Stephanie Van Patten, the RISPCA’s director of community engagement.
“We use our cats to provide “retripution” for any ex-lover or thing you don’t like and want to get back at,” she explained.
Yep. That’s “retripution” spelled with a “P-U” – courtesy of the shelter cats.
At a conference table in the organization’s headquarters in Warwick, social media manager Chloe Pothier writes each name on a pink paper heart.
“We write the last initial and the first name,” she said. “But it’s not just names. It’s also cancer, political stuff, your boss, traffic, stuff like that.”
It’s where those paper hearts end up that’s the true stroke of genius.
Pothier carries them into the room where the shelter cats stay. She plants the paper hearts in the litter box in neat little rows, like a miniature desert garden of names.
The kitty cats take care of the rest.
The RISPCA posts before and after pictures on Facebook and Instagram for proof of performance.
“Sometimes Valentine’s Day is not always the happiest time of year for some people,” Pothier said. “So hopefully this brings them some joy.”
As expert matchmakers, connecting soulmates and mending broken hearts, the RISPCA knows a thing or two about love.
They also know how fragile love is. It can be gone in a heartbeat, leaving longtime loyal companions suddenly in need of a new home.
This is the third year RISPCA has tried the anti-Valentine fundraiser approach.
The first year they had contributions from all 50 states plus a number of foreign countries, and raised more than $10,000. So far this year, they’ve had submissions from 27 states plus DC and Portugal.
Last year, they tried to change it up with a dog-themed approach. For a small donation you could sponsor a chew toy with your frenemy’s name on it. But it wasn’t as popular as Love Stinks, so this year they are back to the cats.
Other rescue organizations have apparently taken the idea to the extreme, allowing contributors to commemorate their hurt feelings in more lasting ways.
“Some places will spay or neuter a cat for your Ex,” Van Patten said.
Ouch!
Van Patten shrugged. “It’s all for a good cause,” she said.
When the RISPCA first tried out this fundraising idea in 2024, it was an election year. So a lot of political names ended up in the box.
“We had bipartisan contributions,” Van Patten said.
This year, not so much. The political hearts that end up in the box are very one-sided this year.
But don’t expect to see those names on the RISPCA’s Facebook page.
“We don’t post those,” said Van Patten. “We want to protect our nonprofit status.”
They don’t want a little light-hearted “retripution” to provoke retribution.
