Make NEKO NGERU Cat Cafe "Pawsome"!

By NEKO NGERU Cat Cafe

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NZ $57,125 pledged


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This campaign was successful and closed on 15/06/2022 at 9:00 AM.

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Make NEKO NGERU Cat Cafe "Pawsome"!

Project 2022-03-24 15:06:32 +1300

What Are We Doing?

We want more homeless cats to be adopted into loving homes. For this reason, we opened NEKO NGERU Cat Adoption Café back in 2017 as a place where people and cats could meet over drinks and food to get to know each other and find out if they are compatible. From 2018 to 2021 we were able to help 152 cats find their new families. 

(* the number after cat's name is their graduate (adopted) number)

Peaches (#143) as a kitten Great athlete, Tiger Lily (#150)! Food thief, Beta (#99)

 

We know that lots of people in Wellington cannot have cats in their homes for various reasons. Our café in Petone provided a place for people to relax and enjoy cats without commitment. People who loved cats and had them at home still wanted to hang out with our cats because . . . cats are cool. We not only had regular café hours but were open for evening events like cat yoga, cat quiz, cat bingo, cat themed games, cat toy making, movie screenings, and informative talks from experts in cat behaviour and cat training.

Yoga insturctor and Spot (#46) Conner (#149) and Peaches help massage

We had a successful cat café in Petone so why did we close it? To look for a building where we could live and have our cat café in the same place. We wanted to be able to care for the cats better and be available for them 24/7. It’s taken a while, but we have bought a two-story building in Lower Hutt. The ground floor is already leased out to Café Soleil and the first floor is going to be our cat café. That’s where you can help. We would like to make the cat area so awesome with a massive catio (a cat patio--covered and screened deck), amazing climbing platforms and scratching posts all along the walls, windows and maybe even the ceiling! We want to have nice human furniture too that the cats and humans can enjoy together.  In our new space we will bring back all the great things we did before plus we will apply for a liquor license so we can have wine and beer with cats plus sake tasting events. For this project, we expect to spend over $150,000 that’s why we would like to raise at least $50,000 to help us along. Costs keep going up, so it would be great to raise even more.

The signage is ready! The Cat Cafe will be on the 1st floor (ground floor is Cafe Soleil)

 

What We Have Been Doing

Some may be wondering, “you closed back in June 2021, why is it taking so long to open the new café?” We can tell you it has been a long and difficult process and is likely to continue that way. We had our hearts set on Wellington CBD for its population density, but we weren't finding anything that was right for us. Then Hutt Radio encouraged us to try for 215 High St in Lower Hutt and we agreed it had good location and potential. First, we had to be really persistent in buying the building. We just kept making offers at each chance and were finally accepted after four months. Then we put our home up for sale to pay for it but the housing market flooded with houses for sale and there were not enough people who could get bank loans even if they wanted to buy them. So, we still haven't sold our house! Thus we have had to get a loan to bridge the gap and settle the final payment on the building. Ken also had difficulty to send his money from his account in Japan to his account in NZ. New regulations made overseas transfers so difficult. After he extended his stay in Japan, he finally managed it but the Japanes Yen dropped about 10% against NZ Dollar! Then there were delays in getting consent for the ground floor construction. We just wanted to do the simple things we were told had to be done to make it safer and able to have more customers, but it took four months. We waited five months for a seismic report that we need to be able to submit the request for the change of use for the first floor which will be a cat cafe.  Until recently, all the builders were too busy to consider our project but it seems that social media has come to the rescue and we may be able to go ahead with the ground floor construction soon. We will start planning ahead and getting the materials we need for the first floor, many of which are in short supply, preparing for the day when we do get the consent to begin construction upstairs. 

Meanwhile, we do have tenants on the ground floor, Café Soleil, who make delicious food with friendly service and Hutt Radio. Support for them is another way to support us.

Of course, a police officer needs cat time! Meal Time Willow (#4) enjoys a cuddle with a girl

 

Who Are We?

If you have gotten to know us in Petone or through social media, you may already know we are Ken and Richelle Okada originally from Osaka, Japan and San Diego, California. As international school teachers in Japan, Kuwait, Mexico and China we got to travel a lot but, we chose New Zealand as the place we would settle down because we think it is the best.

Our dream to open a cat café comes from experiences working with rescue groups in Shanghai, China and rescuing abandoned cats around the world. We saw a need for a place where people could comfortably and conveniently see those cats that need homes. That dream has come true so we decided to make it a full life commitment. Buying a commercial building for our cat café is a big step of faith. But, we have decided to dedicate ourselves to this cause: helping cats and the people who love them. Our name signifies both where we come from and where we are. Neko is Japanese for cat and Ngeru is cat in te reo Māori. Japan is where cat cafes first became popular and New Zealand is where we are.

Ken, Lady Bug (#96) and Peaches Richelle and Conner

What Is a Cat Cafe?

Some of you may not have heard of us before seeing this campaign so we will fill you in. A cat cafe is a cafe...with cats. At Neko Ngeru, we will have 15 to 20 cats living in their own space on the cafe premises. There, you will be able to get all the healing and stress reducing benefits that you need from contact with our cats.

They will be separated from the food service area by a staircase, walls and double doors. Customers can enter the cat's play room for an hourly fee. If you purchase food and/or drink from Cafe Soleil on the ground floor, you can ask them to bring it up to the cat's area (just don't let the cats have any since most human food is not good for them and they will be well-fed anyway).  As well as being open in normal business hours, we will also organize some events after hours and allow bookings for events, parties and functions. We plan to have cat assisted yoga, game and quiz nights, and many other things.

Earl (#135) and Louie (#136) Silver (#132) and Carrie (#133) Tyrion (#93) enjoys massage from humans

 

Where Do the Cats Come From?

We have been working with many of the smaller rescue groups around Wellington to be the sources of our cats and that will continue.  They usually select the most sociable cats for us to adopt and keep at our café but we sometimes take shy ones. The cats will be de-sexed, microchipped, de wormed and fully vaccinated. Many of the cats will have been abandoned or surrendered to the rescue organizations, but some of them will have been born wild in a colony then socialized so they can live in a home. Every adoption reduces the number of stray cats who must hunt to live. Supporting the rescue organizations in de-sexing as many cats as they can means there will be fewer kittens and cats dying painfully every year. 

Tiger Lily and Conner both came from Kitty Cat Resuce Wairarapa Tiny (#69) was rescued in Naenae and gave birth soon after. All kittens got adopted from the cafe too! Pepper ( #112) was surrended to us when her human went overseas

 

Is Every Cat Available for Adoption?

Our cats’ comfort and stability are important to us, so some of our cats will be long term resident ‘professor cats’ for stability. Finding good homes for as many cats as we can is also a priority with us, so we will have a good ratio of adoptable ‘student cats’ in our café. They will stay with us for at least a month so they can be socialised in the café and meet our customers. We will accept applications and choose the best match for the cat as the adopter. We will continue to help as many cats find forever homes as we can and take some of the pressure off the rescue organizations so they can work on socializing the more timid cats. In short, we want to help cats and the people who love them.

Pippin is looking forward to being the 1st resident in the new Cat Cafe! Valentin (#142) was a former long term resident Toulouse (#104) and his human family

 

How You Can Help

Of course, pledges will be helpful. Even five dollars can contribute to reaching the goal of $50,000. We hope the rewards will encourage you to give as much as you can.  But, sharing is great too. The more people who know about our crowdfunding, the more can participate in helping us make NEKO NGEU Cat Café absolutely “PAWSOME”!  Thank you so much for your continued support.

Drawing of the new Cat Cafe! Catio (Cat + Patio) in Purrs & Beans NZ in Auckland made by Moa's Ark Inky (#95) on the Cat Bridge

Video credit: Bradley Saunders-Garner

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Updates 26

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Slow and Steady Progress

12/10/2023 at 10:09 AM

All major construction is done for this stage and the application for a Certificate of Public Use has been submitted. We have been told that it can take a month or so to process and there can still be questions and clarifications and an inspection to arrange before it is issued. Since we have no control over this, we will wait until we have that certificate before we announce any opening date. Hope you can understand. 

We did have a sucessful inspection for our alcohol on license. The inspector is recommending it be granted, but not issued until we have the certificate for public use. Things seem to be coming together.

Our main focus now is getting the cat room fully ready for the cats to move in. This, at least, is up to us. We just have a bit more cat furniture to put up. But, it is the most complicated since it has to be attached to the roof support and not damage any of the ducting or wires in the ceiling. We are not sure who will do this right now. Our skills are sorely lacking in this area. We are grateful to the volunteers who came in the last weeks to paint and varnish and arrange name plaques on the wall and remove glue from the plaques that were at our Petone café from our first crowdfunding.  

Thanks for your continued support and patience.

Ken and Richelle and All the Cats of Neko Ngeru

More Delays

07/09/2023 at 1:46 PM

HI Everyone!

Construction has been going ahead for the last two months but it looks like it will be at least another one before we can finally open. Most of the work has been done on a reasonable schedule but the fire and security company really dropped the ball on our project. The person in charge of it left the job and didn't really bother to let anyone else in the company know what had already been done and what was still needed. Now they are trying to catch up, but won't be able to do their work until the 18th of September. We are upset, of course, and disappointed to bring you this news. We just wanted to let you know that we are still working hard to bring you the best cat café we possibly can.

Photo is Ken at our new till bench made by Resolute Construction and Mitre 10.

Keep paws and fingers crossed we will have no delays from here on.

Thanks for your continued support.

Richelle, Ken and All the Cats of Neko Ngeru

Construction Started!

07/07/2023 at 5:30 PM

We are so excited to share that the construction finally started! Monday the 3rd, the front door was replaced and the builders got excited about our project so they really wanted to keep going with the upstairs as soon as possible. A team has already gotten the framing ready for the glass door to enter the cat room, the cat and human toilet area plus the staff only access to the laundry and office. We had a big meeting today (July 7) of all the contractors, and everyone is on board and ready to work in the next weeks to get it done! So, the basics should be finished in two weeks. After that, we still need to paint, decorate and build our bar/till counter, merchandise area and all the cat climbing furniture. Once that's all finished, the cats can come in to get used to the space. It may be a couple of months before we can open, but it is finally happening. 

Thanks so much for believing in us and staying with us through all this long process. We look forward to seeing you soon.  

Ken, Richelle and All the Cats of Neko Ngeru

Revised Plans Approved (finally)

01/06/2023 at 6:01 PM

One step closer! We got the consent to do our much reduced fit out. We had to scale back considerably from our plan because we are sure we cannot afford the fire walls at this time. But, at least we can use all the upstairs space that was previously consented for the Robert Harris Café back in the day. The space that was office will have to remain office for now until we can earn enough to pay for the fire walls and other construction to bring that part of the building up to code. All this revision has cost us more because a new person was working on our case and needed to ask a lot of questions and charge us $200 an hour for the priviledge. We don't think it's fair and are disputing it but we have paid and so we can go ahead and choose a builder. We are waiting for estimates now so we hope to be able to give everyone a tentative opening day soon. 

Thanks for your patience. It has been nearly two years since we closed in Petone. We never expected it would take this long.

All the cats of Neko Ngeru and the Cat Mom and Dad, Richelle and Ken

 

More Construction Delays

22/02/2023 at 12:58 PM

Things always seem to take longer than we expect. We are pretty sure there is nothing we can do to make things go faster. Each month we are hopeful that the next one we will be open. But we have stopped saying that. We had to give up the dream of living in the same building with the cat cafe because the firewalls were going to be too expensive and cause even more delays. But, that meant that we could make the cat cafe bigger without having to build the catio. Now, since we revised the plans, we have to get another fire report so we can get the updated plans approved. It's all very sensible and understandable but we frett under the delay. We are grateful that people are still asking us when we will open, though we may feel tired at times of having to say we don't know.  We thank you for your continued patience. 

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We got rest of Hoodies and Tees!

22/10/2022 at 9:37 AM

Quick update here. We have receieved size XS and size S for hoodies (also size 3XL) and size S for tees! (The delivery company just couldn't bring two of the boxes on the 1st delivery.) If you ordered these sizes, you can come and pick them up from today! We will also arrange the shipping/delivery next week. 

Have a nice long weekend, everyone!

Finally, hoodies and long-sleeved tees arrived! But there’s a small issue…

20/10/2022 at 7:48 PM

Hello Everyone!

Yay, we finally got hoodies and long-sleeved tees! We are so sorry it took so long. You can see Ken (height: 170cm, weight: 70kg) modeling size S hoodie and yes, it is American size! But, we do have a problem with this shipment. We cannot find size XS and size S for hoodies or size S for tees! We have asked the seller and are waiting for their reply. So, if you have ordered these sizes, just like Richelle, please wait a bit longer.

If you have told us you would pick up from our retail shop at 215 High St, you can do so from tomorrow during our retail shop hours. Here’s our hours:

Friday: 11am to 1pm

Sat & Sun: 11am to 2pm

 

We can be flexible so if you need to come a bit earlier or later, just let us know. You do not need to tell us when you will come, but if you do, your pick up will be smoother.

We will also start shipping them to you next week. If you have any address changes, just let us know. Once we send your item, we will let you know the tracking information individually.

A few people have not responded to our emails asking for size and shipping information. If you haven’t gotten any email from us, maybe check your junk folder? (We don’t know how else to contact you or whether you will ever know we want to since this message will go to your same email as well…)

Our next work is vouchers and name plaques. We will let you know the updates accordingly.

Here’s another important update from us. It took us 11 months, but we finally sold our house! This means we can pay the loan from the vendors. We need to move out from our be-loved house by 24th of November and find somewhere to stay until our residential quarters are ready, but this is a great step forward. We also found a new builder and he can get started very soon. So, we expect the cat room will be open by December if we are lucky!

Hoodies and T-shirts Are on Their Way!

06/10/2022 at 6:47 PM

Hello Everyone!

It has been a while since our last update but we just got word that the hoodies and long sleeved T-shirts are on their way. Once we get them about in about two weeks, we will be able to send them to you or have you pick them up at our retail space at 215 High St in Hutt Central. We are open there Fridays from 11-1pm and Saturday & Sunday from 11-2pm.  Earlier, we sent emails to everyone whose reward choice was hoodie or Tee, asking if you wanted to pick it up or have delivery. We still have all that data. If you have changed your mind about which you prefer, please let us know as soon as you can.

Lots of you may be wondering when we will finally be able to open the cat area of the cafe. We still don't really know. We hope to be able to by December. We are just trying to find an available builder with the right knowledge and experience to do our project. 

Since we are still trying to sell our house, we have had to pay monthly fees for not settling the final payment for the building. This, of course, eats into the money we budgeted for the build. The costs for everything have also gone up in the meantime, as you probably have noticed. We are still dedicated to build a basic cat area right away, but we will most likely have to wait to build our residence and the catio until we can raise the funds needed. 

We thank you for your continued patience with us and all your support.

Ken, Richelle and all the Cats of Neko Ngeru

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We are so happy we reached our goal!

12/06/2022 at 10:05 AM

Thanks Everyone! We did it!

You have all been so wonderful in helping us follow this dream. We are making it a reality together. There will be a PAWSOME cat cafe in Lower Hutt some time soon. 

We cannot set a date for opening yet because we are still waiting for approval of our plans by Hutt City Council. NO matter how long it takes, we will do it. 

There's still a little time to pledge if you know someone who wants to get in, please remind them to do it soon. Once the campaign is closed, we will be contacting each of you mostly to say thanks personally. But, also to get your specific instructions regarding sizing etc. 

Thanks again 

From Ken, Richelle and all the CATS of Neko Ngeru

One Week to Go and Over 85% Reached

09/06/2022 at 1:16 PM

We are excited to share that we have gotten a lot closer to reaching the goal before the deadline. Our families helped us quite a bit, so we are very grateful for that! Now that we are close to the end, we sent another dozen or so press release emails to local media and we got some good responses. Dominion Post Stuff News did an article on Wednesday and it was picked up by Hutt News on the front page of the digital edition on ThursdayJesse Mullian of Radio New Zealand interviewed Richelle live  as well.

We still need your help for the last push. Some people wait until they are sure that a campaign will succeed before they pledge, so it is worth while to remind everyone about us again and tell them that we are so close to the goal--and to the end.  Just keep your fingers and paws crossed for us that we will make it so we can truly make Neko Ngeru Cat Cafe PAWSOME!

Thanks for everything from Ken, Richelle and All the Cats of Neko Ngeru

12 days to go and 39.9% to the goal

03/06/2022 at 10:58 AM

Thanks so much to Everyone who pledged so far! We had about 60 more of you since the last update and it has been encouraging. We really appreciate it. When you tell people about the crowdfunding, please be sure to mention that all the money raised from it will go to the cat room area to get the safety doors, cool cat furniture and enrichment for the cats plus comfy furniture for the humans too. 

Keep on telling others and encouraging them to pledge. We still need everyone's help to make this goal. Some people are like me and they need a few reminders.

Thanks again from Ken, Richelle and All the Cats of Neko Ngeru

32% and 15 Days to Go!

30/05/2022 at 1:33 PM

Hello Everyone!

There's about two weeks left and we are only 32% of the way. That's nervewraking, but we soldier on. You, the 131, who have gotten us this far are amazing to say the least. We do need you to continue your support and really pester the people you know about pledging. We know it is hard times all round with costs for essentials rising daily, but please see if people can budget to spare us $10? If enough people do that, we can make this goal, we know it.

Love and furry kisses from the Cats of Neko Ngeru

oh, and Ken and Richelle say thanks too! 

We are nearly at 30% and we have an article and ad in Regional News!

18/05/2022 at 10:39 AM

There's less than a month to go, so we are hoping to gain momentum again. The ad and content published in the Regional News last week should help. You can go see our ad and article on page 32 at https://www.flipsnack.com/regionalnews/regional-news-issue-171-may-10th-2022.html

Please keep sharing and reminding people that we need help to make the cafe the best it can be.

Thanks again

Ken, Richelle and all the Cats of Neko Ngeru

 

We Passed 25% and Now We Have Photos

10/05/2022 at 4:10 PM

We have reached a quarter of our goal and it feels like we still have a long way to go. Please keep sharing and reminding people you know about our campaign. Now we have photos of our branded T-shirt and Hoodie, so there's even more reason to pledge. They will be great, but we will only be able to send them out if we reach our goal. 

We were featured in the Pledgeme newsletter last week, so our campaign is getting noticed. But, people need lots of reminders before we do anything, so don't be shy about reminding people about us. 

Thanks for all your help and support,

Ken, Richelle and all the Cats of Neko Ngeru

We Passed 20% with Less than 100 Pledgers

03/05/2022 at 10:40 AM

Twenty percent is nice but we still feel nervous. Time is passing. If only 82 of our friends and family have pledged so far, that must mean that the others are still out there needing to be reminded again and gently nudged to make the pledge they've been meaning to. We need you to help us do the nudging. Please remember that Pledgeme is set up to reward only if we reach our goal. That means if we don't reach it, there are no rewards for anyone. Also, the cat room can't be quite as nice as we'd like. Please be that person who reminds the others so we can reach our goal. 

Thanks again,

Ken, Richelle and the Cats of Neko Ngeru 

Media Story about Us in the Daily Encourager

27/04/2022 at 1:37 PM

HI Everyone,

We are at 18% of our goal so that means things have slowed down a bit. We really need you to remind people about our campaign and try to bring it up to others you haven't told yet. The more people know about us, the more will be able to pledge. A way to share easily is this article from the Daily Encourager. https://dailyencourager.co.nz/crowdfunding-appeal-to-help-cat-cafe/ 

or our social media posts.

Thanks again for all your support

Ken, Richelle and all the Cats of Neko Ngeru

At 15% Please Keep on Sharing!

20/04/2022 at 3:36 PM

We are making steady progress on the crowdfunding thanks to you. We have almost reached $8000. Thanks to someone joining our clowder level (year's free entry and other super benefits). So, now we just need you to keep sharing on social media and telling people you talk to in person about our campaign. We are still hoping for media coverage, so please help us that way if you can. The more people who know about it, the more likely we will reach the goal. Thanks for all your support!

Five Percent on the First Day

15/04/2022 at 2:58 PM

Thanks to everyone who has pledged and shared our campaign, we reached $2500: five percent of our goal! That's all because of you. We need your help to keep the momentum going. Please keep sharing our posts, sending the link to this page to everyone and talking about us with people. The more people know about us, the more chances we have to reach the goal. With that in mind, if you happen to know anyone who is involved in news media, see if you can talk to them about doing a story on us and our campaign. 

Thanks again,

Ken, Richelle and the Cats of Neko Ngeru

    Pledgers 348

    Clare Saunders
    15/04/2022 at 7:59am

    "Good luck guys"

    Michelle Blackman
    15/04/2022 at 6:25am

    "We live in San Diego and are Richelle Okada's parents wishing her the very best in reaching her goal."

    Anonymous pledger
    14/04/2022 at 6:45pm

    "Good luck with your fundraising"

    Anonymous pledger
    14/04/2022 at 6:42pm

    "Good luck with your campaign. Looking forward to getting to the new site"

    Leonie Henderson
    14/04/2022 at 6:14pm

    "I can't wait to see your new digs! And meet sweet Pippin - he's a real treasure 💜"

    Paul Benn
    14/04/2022 at 4:04pm
    Amanda
    14/04/2022 at 3:58pm
    Marjorie Dawson
    14/04/2022 at 3:51pm

    "Look out for another pledge soon from us - Toulouse "

    Stella Gardiner
    14/04/2022 at 2:56pm
    Clare Robinson
    14/04/2022 at 2:33pm

    "Admiral Sharon (retired) sends her love. "

    Sasha Green
    14/04/2022 at 1:45pm

    "Women's size 10"

    Alex
    14/04/2022 at 1:36pm

    ":3"

    Felice Gazo
    14/04/2022 at 12:44pm

    "mrowrr"

    Olga Polishchuk
    14/04/2022 at 12:23pm
    Michael
    14/04/2022 at 12:13pm
    gloria
    14/04/2022 at 11:13am
    Anonymous pledger
    14/04/2022 at 9:33am

    "Meow!"

    NEKO NGERU Cat Cafe
    14/04/2022 at 9:14am

    Followers 3

    Followers of Make NEKO NGERU Cat Cafe "Pawsome"!

    Make NEKO NGERU Cat Cafe "Pawsome"!

    Project 2022-03-24 15:06:32 +1300

    What Are We Doing?

    We want more homeless cats to be adopted into loving homes. For this reason, we opened NEKO NGERU Cat Adoption Café back in 2017 as a place where people and cats could meet over drinks and food to get to know each other and find out if they are compatible. From 2018 to 2021 we were able to help 152 cats find their new families. 

    (* the number after cat's name is their graduate (adopted) number)

    Peaches (#143) as a kitten Great athlete, Tiger Lily (#150)! Food thief, Beta (#99)

     

    We know that lots of people in Wellington cannot have cats in their homes for various reasons. Our café in Petone provided a place for people to relax and enjoy cats without commitment. People who loved cats and had them at home still wanted to hang out with our cats because . . . cats are cool. We not only had regular café hours but were open for evening events like cat yoga, cat quiz, cat bingo, cat themed games, cat toy making, movie screenings, and informative talks from experts in cat behaviour and cat training.

    Yoga insturctor and Spot (#46) Conner (#149) and Peaches help massage

    We had a successful cat café in Petone so why did we close it? To look for a building where we could live and have our cat café in the same place. We wanted to be able to care for the cats better and be available for them 24/7. It’s taken a while, but we have bought a two-story building in Lower Hutt. The ground floor is already leased out to Café Soleil and the first floor is going to be our cat café. That’s where you can help. We would like to make the cat area so awesome with a massive catio (a cat patio--covered and screened deck), amazing climbing platforms and scratching posts all along the walls, windows and maybe even the ceiling! We want to have nice human furniture too that the cats and humans can enjoy together.  In our new space we will bring back all the great things we did before plus we will apply for a liquor license so we can have wine and beer with cats plus sake tasting events. For this project, we expect to spend over $150,000 that’s why we would like to raise at least $50,000 to help us along. Costs keep going up, so it would be great to raise even more.

    The signage is ready! The Cat Cafe will be on the 1st floor (ground floor is Cafe Soleil)

     

    What We Have Been Doing

    Some may be wondering, “you closed back in June 2021, why is it taking so long to open the new café?” We can tell you it has been a long and difficult process and is likely to continue that way. We had our hearts set on Wellington CBD for its population density, but we weren't finding anything that was right for us. Then Hutt Radio encouraged us to try for 215 High St in Lower Hutt and we agreed it had good location and potential. First, we had to be really persistent in buying the building. We just kept making offers at each chance and were finally accepted after four months. Then we put our home up for sale to pay for it but the housing market flooded with houses for sale and there were not enough people who could get bank loans even if they wanted to buy them. So, we still haven't sold our house! Thus we have had to get a loan to bridge the gap and settle the final payment on the building. Ken also had difficulty to send his money from his account in Japan to his account in NZ. New regulations made overseas transfers so difficult. After he extended his stay in Japan, he finally managed it but the Japanes Yen dropped about 10% against NZ Dollar! Then there were delays in getting consent for the ground floor construction. We just wanted to do the simple things we were told had to be done to make it safer and able to have more customers, but it took four months. We waited five months for a seismic report that we need to be able to submit the request for the change of use for the first floor which will be a cat cafe.  Until recently, all the builders were too busy to consider our project but it seems that social media has come to the rescue and we may be able to go ahead with the ground floor construction soon. We will start planning ahead and getting the materials we need for the first floor, many of which are in short supply, preparing for the day when we do get the consent to begin construction upstairs. 

    Meanwhile, we do have tenants on the ground floor, Café Soleil, who make delicious food with friendly service and Hutt Radio. Support for them is another way to support us.

    Of course, a police officer needs cat time! Meal Time Willow (#4) enjoys a cuddle with a girl

     

    Who Are We?

    If you have gotten to know us in Petone or through social media, you may already know we are Ken and Richelle Okada originally from Osaka, Japan and San Diego, California. As international school teachers in Japan, Kuwait, Mexico and China we got to travel a lot but, we chose New Zealand as the place we would settle down because we think it is the best.

    Our dream to open a cat café comes from experiences working with rescue groups in Shanghai, China and rescuing abandoned cats around the world. We saw a need for a place where people could comfortably and conveniently see those cats that need homes. That dream has come true so we decided to make it a full life commitment. Buying a commercial building for our cat café is a big step of faith. But, we have decided to dedicate ourselves to this cause: helping cats and the people who love them. Our name signifies both where we come from and where we are. Neko is Japanese for cat and Ngeru is cat in te reo Māori. Japan is where cat cafes first became popular and New Zealand is where we are.

    Ken, Lady Bug (#96) and Peaches Richelle and Conner

    What Is a Cat Cafe?

    Some of you may not have heard of us before seeing this campaign so we will fill you in. A cat cafe is a cafe...with cats. At Neko Ngeru, we will have 15 to 20 cats living in their own space on the cafe premises. There, you will be able to get all the healing and stress reducing benefits that you need from contact with our cats.

    They will be separated from the food service area by a staircase, walls and double doors. Customers can enter the cat's play room for an hourly fee. If you purchase food and/or drink from Cafe Soleil on the ground floor, you can ask them to bring it up to the cat's area (just don't let the cats have any since most human food is not good for them and they will be well-fed anyway).  As well as being open in normal business hours, we will also organize some events after hours and allow bookings for events, parties and functions. We plan to have cat assisted yoga, game and quiz nights, and many other things.

    Earl (#135) and Louie (#136) Silver (#132) and Carrie (#133) Tyrion (#93) enjoys massage from humans

     

    Where Do the Cats Come From?

    We have been working with many of the smaller rescue groups around Wellington to be the sources of our cats and that will continue.  They usually select the most sociable cats for us to adopt and keep at our café but we sometimes take shy ones. The cats will be de-sexed, microchipped, de wormed and fully vaccinated. Many of the cats will have been abandoned or surrendered to the rescue organizations, but some of them will have been born wild in a colony then socialized so they can live in a home. Every adoption reduces the number of stray cats who must hunt to live. Supporting the rescue organizations in de-sexing as many cats as they can means there will be fewer kittens and cats dying painfully every year. 

    Tiger Lily and Conner both came from Kitty Cat Resuce Wairarapa Tiny (#69) was rescued in Naenae and gave birth soon after. All kittens got adopted from the cafe too! Pepper ( #112) was surrended to us when her human went overseas

     

    Is Every Cat Available for Adoption?

    Our cats’ comfort and stability are important to us, so some of our cats will be long term resident ‘professor cats’ for stability. Finding good homes for as many cats as we can is also a priority with us, so we will have a good ratio of adoptable ‘student cats’ in our café. They will stay with us for at least a month so they can be socialised in the café and meet our customers. We will accept applications and choose the best match for the cat as the adopter. We will continue to help as many cats find forever homes as we can and take some of the pressure off the rescue organizations so they can work on socializing the more timid cats. In short, we want to help cats and the people who love them.

    Pippin is looking forward to being the 1st resident in the new Cat Cafe! Valentin (#142) was a former long term resident Toulouse (#104) and his human family

     

    How You Can Help

    Of course, pledges will be helpful. Even five dollars can contribute to reaching the goal of $50,000. We hope the rewards will encourage you to give as much as you can.  But, sharing is great too. The more people who know about our crowdfunding, the more can participate in helping us make NEKO NGEU Cat Café absolutely “PAWSOME”!  Thank you so much for your continued support.

    Drawing of the new Cat Cafe! Catio (Cat + Patio) in Purrs & Beans NZ in Auckland made by Moa's Ark Inky (#95) on the Cat Bridge

    Video credit: Bradley Saunders-Garner

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    Slow and Steady Progress

    12/10/2023 at 10:09 AM

    All major construction is done for this stage and the application for a Certificate of Public Use has been submitted. We have been told that it can take a month or so to process and there can still be questions and clarifications and an inspection to arrange before it is issued. Since we have no control over this, we will wait until we have that certificate before we announce any opening date. Hope you can understand. 

    We did have a sucessful inspection for our alcohol on license. The inspector is recommending it be granted, but not issued until we have the certificate for public use. Things seem to be coming together.

    Our main focus now is getting the cat room fully ready for the cats to move in. This, at least, is up to us. We just have a bit more cat furniture to put up. But, it is the most complicated since it has to be attached to the roof support and not damage any of the ducting or wires in the ceiling. We are not sure who will do this right now. Our skills are sorely lacking in this area. We are grateful to the volunteers who came in the last weeks to paint and varnish and arrange name plaques on the wall and remove glue from the plaques that were at our Petone café from our first crowdfunding.  

    Thanks for your continued support and patience.

    Ken and Richelle and All the Cats of Neko Ngeru

    More Delays

    07/09/2023 at 1:46 PM

    HI Everyone!

    Construction has been going ahead for the last two months but it looks like it will be at least another one before we can finally open. Most of the work has been done on a reasonable schedule but the fire and security company really dropped the ball on our project. The person in charge of it left the job and didn't really bother to let anyone else in the company know what had already been done and what was still needed. Now they are trying to catch up, but won't be able to do their work until the 18th of September. We are upset, of course, and disappointed to bring you this news. We just wanted to let you know that we are still working hard to bring you the best cat café we possibly can.

    Photo is Ken at our new till bench made by Resolute Construction and Mitre 10.

    Keep paws and fingers crossed we will have no delays from here on.

    Thanks for your continued support.

    Richelle, Ken and All the Cats of Neko Ngeru

    Construction Started!

    07/07/2023 at 5:30 PM

    We are so excited to share that the construction finally started! Monday the 3rd, the front door was replaced and the builders got excited about our project so they really wanted to keep going with the upstairs as soon as possible. A team has already gotten the framing ready for the glass door to enter the cat room, the cat and human toilet area plus the staff only access to the laundry and office. We had a big meeting today (July 7) of all the contractors, and everyone is on board and ready to work in the next weeks to get it done! So, the basics should be finished in two weeks. After that, we still need to paint, decorate and build our bar/till counter, merchandise area and all the cat climbing furniture. Once that's all finished, the cats can come in to get used to the space. It may be a couple of months before we can open, but it is finally happening. 

    Thanks so much for believing in us and staying with us through all this long process. We look forward to seeing you soon.  

    Ken, Richelle and All the Cats of Neko Ngeru

    Revised Plans Approved (finally)

    01/06/2023 at 6:01 PM

    One step closer! We got the consent to do our much reduced fit out. We had to scale back considerably from our plan because we are sure we cannot afford the fire walls at this time. But, at least we can use all the upstairs space that was previously consented for the Robert Harris Café back in the day. The space that was office will have to remain office for now until we can earn enough to pay for the fire walls and other construction to bring that part of the building up to code. All this revision has cost us more because a new person was working on our case and needed to ask a lot of questions and charge us $200 an hour for the priviledge. We don't think it's fair and are disputing it but we have paid and so we can go ahead and choose a builder. We are waiting for estimates now so we hope to be able to give everyone a tentative opening day soon. 

    Thanks for your patience. It has been nearly two years since we closed in Petone. We never expected it would take this long.

    All the cats of Neko Ngeru and the Cat Mom and Dad, Richelle and Ken

     

    More Construction Delays

    22/02/2023 at 12:58 PM

    Things always seem to take longer than we expect. We are pretty sure there is nothing we can do to make things go faster. Each month we are hopeful that the next one we will be open. But we have stopped saying that. We had to give up the dream of living in the same building with the cat cafe because the firewalls were going to be too expensive and cause even more delays. But, that meant that we could make the cat cafe bigger without having to build the catio. Now, since we revised the plans, we have to get another fire report so we can get the updated plans approved. It's all very sensible and understandable but we frett under the delay. We are grateful that people are still asking us when we will open, though we may feel tired at times of having to say we don't know.  We thank you for your continued patience. 

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    We got rest of Hoodies and Tees!

    22/10/2022 at 9:37 AM

    Quick update here. We have receieved size XS and size S for hoodies (also size 3XL) and size S for tees! (The delivery company just couldn't bring two of the boxes on the 1st delivery.) If you ordered these sizes, you can come and pick them up from today! We will also arrange the shipping/delivery next week. 

    Have a nice long weekend, everyone!

    Finally, hoodies and long-sleeved tees arrived! But there’s a small issue…

    20/10/2022 at 7:48 PM

    Hello Everyone!

    Yay, we finally got hoodies and long-sleeved tees! We are so sorry it took so long. You can see Ken (height: 170cm, weight: 70kg) modeling size S hoodie and yes, it is American size! But, we do have a problem with this shipment. We cannot find size XS and size S for hoodies or size S for tees! We have asked the seller and are waiting for their reply. So, if you have ordered these sizes, just like Richelle, please wait a bit longer.

    If you have told us you would pick up from our retail shop at 215 High St, you can do so from tomorrow during our retail shop hours. Here’s our hours:

    Friday: 11am to 1pm

    Sat & Sun: 11am to 2pm

     

    We can be flexible so if you need to come a bit earlier or later, just let us know. You do not need to tell us when you will come, but if you do, your pick up will be smoother.

    We will also start shipping them to you next week. If you have any address changes, just let us know. Once we send your item, we will let you know the tracking information individually.

    A few people have not responded to our emails asking for size and shipping information. If you haven’t gotten any email from us, maybe check your junk folder? (We don’t know how else to contact you or whether you will ever know we want to since this message will go to your same email as well…)

    Our next work is vouchers and name plaques. We will let you know the updates accordingly.

    Here’s another important update from us. It took us 11 months, but we finally sold our house! This means we can pay the loan from the vendors. We need to move out from our be-loved house by 24th of November and find somewhere to stay until our residential quarters are ready, but this is a great step forward. We also found a new builder and he can get started very soon. So, we expect the cat room will be open by December if we are lucky!

    Hoodies and T-shirts Are on Their Way!

    06/10/2022 at 6:47 PM

    Hello Everyone!

    It has been a while since our last update but we just got word that the hoodies and long sleeved T-shirts are on their way. Once we get them about in about two weeks, we will be able to send them to you or have you pick them up at our retail space at 215 High St in Hutt Central. We are open there Fridays from 11-1pm and Saturday & Sunday from 11-2pm.  Earlier, we sent emails to everyone whose reward choice was hoodie or Tee, asking if you wanted to pick it up or have delivery. We still have all that data. If you have changed your mind about which you prefer, please let us know as soon as you can.

    Lots of you may be wondering when we will finally be able to open the cat area of the cafe. We still don't really know. We hope to be able to by December. We are just trying to find an available builder with the right knowledge and experience to do our project. 

    Since we are still trying to sell our house, we have had to pay monthly fees for not settling the final payment for the building. This, of course, eats into the money we budgeted for the build. The costs for everything have also gone up in the meantime, as you probably have noticed. We are still dedicated to build a basic cat area right away, but we will most likely have to wait to build our residence and the catio until we can raise the funds needed. 

    We thank you for your continued patience with us and all your support.

    Ken, Richelle and all the Cats of Neko Ngeru

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    We are so happy we reached our goal!

    12/06/2022 at 10:05 AM

    Thanks Everyone! We did it!

    You have all been so wonderful in helping us follow this dream. We are making it a reality together. There will be a PAWSOME cat cafe in Lower Hutt some time soon. 

    We cannot set a date for opening yet because we are still waiting for approval of our plans by Hutt City Council. NO matter how long it takes, we will do it. 

    There's still a little time to pledge if you know someone who wants to get in, please remind them to do it soon. Once the campaign is closed, we will be contacting each of you mostly to say thanks personally. But, also to get your specific instructions regarding sizing etc. 

    Thanks again 

    From Ken, Richelle and all the CATS of Neko Ngeru

    One Week to Go and Over 85% Reached

    09/06/2022 at 1:16 PM

    We are excited to share that we have gotten a lot closer to reaching the goal before the deadline. Our families helped us quite a bit, so we are very grateful for that! Now that we are close to the end, we sent another dozen or so press release emails to local media and we got some good responses. Dominion Post Stuff News did an article on Wednesday and it was picked up by Hutt News on the front page of the digital edition on ThursdayJesse Mullian of Radio New Zealand interviewed Richelle live  as well.

    We still need your help for the last push. Some people wait until they are sure that a campaign will succeed before they pledge, so it is worth while to remind everyone about us again and tell them that we are so close to the goal--and to the end.  Just keep your fingers and paws crossed for us that we will make it so we can truly make Neko Ngeru Cat Cafe PAWSOME!

    Thanks for everything from Ken, Richelle and All the Cats of Neko Ngeru

    12 days to go and 39.9% to the goal

    03/06/2022 at 10:58 AM

    Thanks so much to Everyone who pledged so far! We had about 60 more of you since the last update and it has been encouraging. We really appreciate it. When you tell people about the crowdfunding, please be sure to mention that all the money raised from it will go to the cat room area to get the safety doors, cool cat furniture and enrichment for the cats plus comfy furniture for the humans too. 

    Keep on telling others and encouraging them to pledge. We still need everyone's help to make this goal. Some people are like me and they need a few reminders.

    Thanks again from Ken, Richelle and All the Cats of Neko Ngeru

    32% and 15 Days to Go!

    30/05/2022 at 1:33 PM

    Hello Everyone!

    There's about two weeks left and we are only 32% of the way. That's nervewraking, but we soldier on. You, the 131, who have gotten us this far are amazing to say the least. We do need you to continue your support and really pester the people you know about pledging. We know it is hard times all round with costs for essentials rising daily, but please see if people can budget to spare us $10? If enough people do that, we can make this goal, we know it.

    Love and furry kisses from the Cats of Neko Ngeru

    oh, and Ken and Richelle say thanks too! 

    We are nearly at 30% and we have an article and ad in Regional News!

    18/05/2022 at 10:39 AM

    There's less than a month to go, so we are hoping to gain momentum again. The ad and content published in the Regional News last week should help. You can go see our ad and article on page 32 at https://www.flipsnack.com/regionalnews/regional-news-issue-171-may-10th-2022.html

    Please keep sharing and reminding people that we need help to make the cafe the best it can be.

    Thanks again

    Ken, Richelle and all the Cats of Neko Ngeru

     

    We Passed 25% and Now We Have Photos

    10/05/2022 at 4:10 PM

    We have reached a quarter of our goal and it feels like we still have a long way to go. Please keep sharing and reminding people you know about our campaign. Now we have photos of our branded T-shirt and Hoodie, so there's even more reason to pledge. They will be great, but we will only be able to send them out if we reach our goal. 

    We were featured in the Pledgeme newsletter last week, so our campaign is getting noticed. But, people need lots of reminders before we do anything, so don't be shy about reminding people about us. 

    Thanks for all your help and support,

    Ken, Richelle and all the Cats of Neko Ngeru

    We Passed 20% with Less than 100 Pledgers

    03/05/2022 at 10:40 AM

    Twenty percent is nice but we still feel nervous. Time is passing. If only 82 of our friends and family have pledged so far, that must mean that the others are still out there needing to be reminded again and gently nudged to make the pledge they've been meaning to. We need you to help us do the nudging. Please remember that Pledgeme is set up to reward only if we reach our goal. That means if we don't reach it, there are no rewards for anyone. Also, the cat room can't be quite as nice as we'd like. Please be that person who reminds the others so we can reach our goal. 

    Thanks again,

    Ken, Richelle and the Cats of Neko Ngeru 

    Media Story about Us in the Daily Encourager

    27/04/2022 at 1:37 PM

    HI Everyone,

    We are at 18% of our goal so that means things have slowed down a bit. We really need you to remind people about our campaign and try to bring it up to others you haven't told yet. The more people know about us, the more will be able to pledge. A way to share easily is this article from the Daily Encourager. https://dailyencourager.co.nz/crowdfunding-appeal-to-help-cat-cafe/ 

    or our social media posts.

    Thanks again for all your support

    Ken, Richelle and all the Cats of Neko Ngeru

    At 15% Please Keep on Sharing!

    20/04/2022 at 3:36 PM

    We are making steady progress on the crowdfunding thanks to you. We have almost reached $8000. Thanks to someone joining our clowder level (year's free entry and other super benefits). So, now we just need you to keep sharing on social media and telling people you talk to in person about our campaign. We are still hoping for media coverage, so please help us that way if you can. The more people who know about it, the more likely we will reach the goal. Thanks for all your support!

    Five Percent on the First Day

    15/04/2022 at 2:58 PM

    Thanks to everyone who has pledged and shared our campaign, we reached $2500: five percent of our goal! That's all because of you. We need your help to keep the momentum going. Please keep sharing our posts, sending the link to this page to everyone and talking about us with people. The more people know about us, the more chances we have to reach the goal. With that in mind, if you happen to know anyone who is involved in news media, see if you can talk to them about doing a story on us and our campaign. 

    Thanks again,

    Ken, Richelle and the Cats of Neko Ngeru

      Clare Saunders
      15/04/2022 at 7:59am

      "Good luck guys"

      Michelle Blackman
      15/04/2022 at 6:25am

      "We live in San Diego and are Richelle Okada's parents wishing her the very best in reaching her goal."

      Anonymous pledger
      14/04/2022 at 6:45pm

      "Good luck with your fundraising"

      Anonymous pledger
      14/04/2022 at 6:42pm

      "Good luck with your campaign. Looking forward to getting to the new site"

      Leonie Henderson
      14/04/2022 at 6:14pm

      "I can't wait to see your new digs! And meet sweet Pippin - he's a real treasure 💜"

      Paul Benn
      14/04/2022 at 4:04pm
      Amanda
      14/04/2022 at 3:58pm
      Marjorie Dawson
      14/04/2022 at 3:51pm

      "Look out for another pledge soon from us - Toulouse "

      Stella Gardiner
      14/04/2022 at 2:56pm
      Clare Robinson
      14/04/2022 at 2:33pm

      "Admiral Sharon (retired) sends her love. "

      Sasha Green
      14/04/2022 at 1:45pm

      "Women's size 10"

      Alex
      14/04/2022 at 1:36pm

      ":3"

      Felice Gazo
      14/04/2022 at 12:44pm

      "mrowrr"

      Olga Polishchuk
      14/04/2022 at 12:23pm
      Michael
      14/04/2022 at 12:13pm
      gloria
      14/04/2022 at 11:13am
      Anonymous pledger
      14/04/2022 at 9:33am

      "Meow!"

      NEKO NGERU Cat Cafe
      14/04/2022 at 9:14am

      Followers of Make NEKO NGERU Cat Cafe "Pawsome"!

      This campaign was successful and got its funding on 15/06/2022 at 9:00 AM.
      Every Little Bit...
      International Supporter Award
      One Hour Voucher For One Person
      One Hour With Pippin Mug
      One Hour Voucher For Two People
      Neko Ngeru Long Sleeved T Shirt
      Neko Ngeru Logo Hoodie
      Cat Naming Rights
      Cat Daddy Combo Pack
      Cat Lady Combo Pack
      "Lucky Bag" Of Neko Ngeru Merch
      Kitty Pamper Pack
      Founder's Wall--Kitten
      Cat Room 10 Pass
      Founder's Wall--Tom Cat
      Founder's Wall--Queen