Kitty Crochet

Healthcare Financial Management, March, 2007

Pat Nervina crochets soft, stylish scarves and sells them to raise funds for cats in need.

Pat Nervina never imagined that resuming crochet after a decade would someday help cats who are abused or in need of veterinary care, shelter, or a loving home.

Nervina, a healthcare consultant who is a member of HFMA's Central New York Chapter, crochets soft scarves that she sells at shops in her region and to individuals, then donates the proceeds to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and KittyCorner of Central New York, a cat rescue organization.

"It's my way of expressing gratitude to animal caretakers and rescuers for their efforts and also, a way to contribute to their work," says Nervina, who lives in Marietta, N.Y.

Nervina knows firsthand the importance of the work of animal caretakers and rescuers. Her first cat was a stray that she adopted; the other, which used to belong to her daughter, once became lost for a week while Nervina was caring for it. She had agreed to watch the cat, named Oreo, two years ago while her daughter, who was pregnant, went on vacation with her husband and son. The back door to Nervina's home was inadvertently left open, and the cat, who had never been outdoors or visited Nervina's home, escaped.

What followed was a weeklong search, during which Nervina displayed posters of Oreo throughout town and enlisted her neighbors' help in looking for the cat. "My stress level was at its max. How could this poor eat, unfamiliar with the territory, survive with no food or means of protecting itself?" Nervina remembers. "Worse yet, one of my neighbors spotted her running down the middle of the road at 2 a.m. Would she still he alive? How could I tell my daughter and her family that their beloved cat may be dead because I let her slip away? My daughter was pregnant. Would she trust me to baby-sit for her child when it was born? I prayed diligently and promised I would somehow make up for it if she would only find her way back."

Thankfully, Nervina heard Oreo whimpering outside her window about a week after it escaped. The cat was sitting at the foot of a religious statue in her flowerbed, looking much thinner, but relatively OK. "I cannot describe how thankful I felt," Nervina says. "I knew I had to do something that would express my gratitude for Oreo's safe return." Oreo and Nervina bonded during the remainder of Oreo's stay, and ultimately, Nervina's daughter gave the cat to Nervina.

Nervina had recently taken up crocheting again after losing a scarf in a rental car. "It was in March, and I couldn't find one to buy, so I renewed my old hobby of crocheting and quickly made another one," Nervina says. "To my surprise, my female colleagues liked it and asked to have one as well, so I ended up making several scarves for just the cost of the materials."

One night, Nervina was sitting by the fire, crocheting a scarf, when Oreo began to play with the yarn. "Oreo became entangled in the scarf I was making. She looked so cute wearing it!" Nervina says. "That's when it hit me: 'Why don't I sell these kitty-soft scarves to others, since they seemed popular, and donate the proceeds to organizations that care for cats?'"

Today, Nervina has made about 100 scarves to benefit cats, and has donated more than $800 to cat-related charity organizations. She prefers soft fabrics for the scarves--"kitty soft," she says--and creates them with a variety of stitches and patterns. "Just the fact that I'm contributing toward the care of animals is the best part," she says.