PORT ST. LUCIE PEOPLE
“I’ve run a successful floral shop for 25 years, but over time
people found out that I would take in cats and it just evolved.
Now I run the flower shop solely to support all the cats.”
Whistler confided that she spent more than $43,000 last
year alone on cat food, vet bills, employees and rent. With no
outside funding, these costs have nearly depleted her retirement
saving and 401k but it’s her passion. “I literally exist on
peanut butter and jelly sandwiches so my babies can have a
full belly,” she said.
Stretching a dollar is nothing new for Whistler. She grew
up dirt poor in Queens, sleeping on newspaper for a bed and
using buckets for toilets at times.
“I’m not complaining,” she said. “Adversity has made me
what I am today. I remember going to rummage sales and being
overjoyed at getting a new pair of hand-me-down shoes. I
honestly didn’t know better.”
She married young and raised three children in Queens.
While they slowly climbed out of poverty and into a better social
economic status, she opened her home to foster children.
“I’ve always had a heart that could stretch as far as it
needed to and there was always room for one more,” Whistler
explained. “I felt that if I could just give these children a
start in life and the love they didn’t have, that it would affect
them for the rest of their lives.”
Whistler estimates that nearly 500 foster children came
through her house over the years, ranging in age from infants
to teenagers. One teenager that came to her pregnant, ended
up living with her family for eight years and birthed two
children under her care.
“I still keep in touch with those I can,” she said. “But by
now they’ve grown and moved on and I’ve relocated to
Florida so it’s difficult. I will never forget a single one and
they are forever in my heart.”
Now that her own children are grown and busy with lives
of their own, Whistler shares her home with her husband and
HOW TO HELP
Visit www.nannysfurkids.com. All contributions are taxdeductible
and go directly to feeding and care of the cats.
Donations of cat food, litter and old towels are greatly
appreciated and can be dropped off at the rescue:
6542 NW Selvitz Road (Parkway Plaza) in Port St. Lucie.
For further information, call 772.249.4726.
14 cats. “My husband has Alzheimer’s now,” she said as she
stroked a cat perched on her desk. “I get up early to feed and
care for him and once he’s settled I come over to the shop to
take care of all my babies. When they’re cared for, I go back
home and make dinner for him and get him to bed. I think I
was born to be a caretaker.”
Whistler employs four cat-loving employees to help her at
the rescue and a florist to keep the flower shop business. A
couple of volunteers come in a few days a week to get their
fix of cat purring and rubbing. “I invite anyone who is having
a bad day or is in need of a little loving, to come in and play
with these kitties. They are sure to bring a smile to your face.”
There is never an adoption fee at Nanny’s Fur Kids Cat
Rescue. “Our ultimate goal is to find these cats a forever
home and I don’t see any reason to deny anyone ownership
because of their financial status,” she explained. “A cat may
be just the right prescription to help someone climb out of depression
52 Port St. Lucie Magazine
or overcome an illness. All of our babies are spayed,
neutered and up to date with vaccines, so the big vet bills
are already covered.” She does stipulate, however, that if an
adoptee doesn’t work out for any reason that it be returned to
her and she will care for it.
If you’d like to help Whistler help these discarded kitties,
she has set up a website listing ways you can help. E
Staffers Mike and Rene’ join Whistler for a little bit of loving from their adoptable pals amid the cages of the cat rescue.
/www.nannysfurkids.com
