Cardboard For Kitty Returns to Saint John at Market Square Atrium on October 5th
After a hiatus due to the pandemic, Cardboard For Kitty is back, ready to inspire creativity, community spirit, and support for local charities. This unique fundraiser will take place on October 5th, 2024, at Market Square Atrium in Saint John, NB, where participants of all ages will gather to design and build cardboard homes for cats. Teams will have three hours to bring their ideas to life while raising funds for two great causes: RedHead Strays, a local cat shelter, and Brilliant Labs, a charity dedicated to hands-on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) learning.
“I wanted to re-launch Cardboard For Kitty because it’s such a fun way to bring people together and make a real difference for both cats and kids. This event shows how creativity can spark change, and I hope it inspires others to get involved and use their ideas to help the community,” said Grace, Co-Founder and a grade 10 student at St. Malachy’s High School in Saint John, NB.
Before the pandemic, Cardboard For Kitty was a great success, with more than 25 teams participating in a day filled with creativity, problem-solving, and community building. Teams of all ages participated, including students and teachers from Lakewood Heights School, who were featured on Global News.
Students from Lakewood Heights shared their experience designing and coding an automatic feeder for the event, saying, “We took weeks going over that design… We like art, cats, and building things.” Their teacher, Anne Irvine, was equally enthusiastic, stating, “It’s a great opportunity, and there should be more activities like this, where they’re making a difference and using their creative energies to do it.”
Cardboard For Kitty offers an incredible opportunity for participants to work as a team, think critically, and apply their STEAM skills, all while making a positive impact on their community. Whether it’s coding smart technologies like automatic feeders or crafting a cozy, artistic home for cats, the event fosters hands-on learning in a fun and meaningful way.
This year, Grace and the Cardboard For Kitty team are calling for teams from Saint John and neighbouring communities and cities to join the build on October 5th. Looking ahead to the spring of 2025, Grace plans to expand the event to schools and communities across the region, allowing even more people to get involved and support these important causes.
If you love cats, creativity, and making a difference, now’s the time to get involved! 🐾
Register your team today at CardboardForKitty.ca and help build something amazing for both cats and kids.
Media Inquires: For interviews or to connect with Grace, co-founder of Cardboard for Kitty, RedHead Strays, or Brilliant Labs, please contact Jeff Willson, Executive Director of Brilliant Labs, at 506–442–9059 or via email at Jeff@brilliantlabs.ca.
About Brilliant Labs : Brilliant Labs is an Atlantic Canadian-based charity. We are a hands-on, experiential learning platform providing youth with opportunities to develop coding and digital skills. When creativity, innovation and technology are applied to projects supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), along with a socially responsible entrepreneurial spirit, educators and youth can affect change within their classrooms, curricula, communities, throughout Atlantic Canada, and beyond. Together, we can transform education by empowering and teaching youth how-to-learn.
About RedHead Strays: RedHead Strays rescues and provides temporary shelter for abandoned/stray cats/kittens and operates a stray cat adoption program. Also provides a TNR program for feral cats that are unable to be adopted in to homes.
