How Ten Lives Club will use donations for Bills’ Tyler Bass

The felines had been hard at work in the days following the Buffalo Bills’ 27-24 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs Jan. 21 in the AFC divisional playoff game. 

National news programs like the “Today Show” and “Inside Edition” had been requesting interviews with the humans at the shelter and needed video footage of the cats sporting Bills jerseys and looking cute for their viewers. 

It was a tough job, but the cats were up to the challenge as a way to highlight the hundreds of thousands of dollars raised for Ten Lives Club in honor of Bills kicker Tyler Bass. 

With less than two minutes left in the playoff game, Bass missed a field goal that would have tied the score. Following the team’s loss, Bass became the target of online trolls, who harassed and threatened him. 

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As Bills Mafia is apt to do when a player is going through a hard time, fans rallied around Bass and began donating to a local charity he supported: Ten Lives Club. 

As of Thursday, Ten Lives Club had received more than $377,000 from football fans and cat lovers around the world, said Kimberly LaRussa, the rescue’s public relations manager. 

“Every penny counts to help these rescue cats,” LaRussa said. “So to receive that kind of donation in such a short period of time is nothing short of remarkable.”

The day after the game, phones at the shelter were “ringing off the hook,” said LaRussa, with people asking to donate to the rescue in honor of Bass. Many donated $22, as Bass wears jersey No. 2. 

“It was at that time that we learned that he was receiving hate and that made us all upset here at the shelter,” LaRussa said. 

That then prompted the rescue to make a now widely shared Facebook post in support of Bass, telling Bills fans not to “bully our friend.”

“Tyler doesn’t deserve any of the hate he’s receiving,” Ten Lives Club wrote. “He’s an excellent football player and an even better person who took the time to help our organization and rescue cats last year. Leave our friend alone.”

Bass worked with the Ten Lives Club through a partnership with Show Your Soft Side, a group that works with athletes and entertainers to end animal abuse. Bass posed for a photo shoot holding a Ten Lives Club cat named Harley and shared he is a cat owner himself. 

A framed copy of that photo hangs in the Ten Lives Club’s lobby. 

“It was all the Bills Mafia that started it,” said Sallie Edwards, president of Ten Lives Club and daughter of the founder. “We didn’t even start it here, we just jumped on. We love Tyler (Bass) here.”

Bass hasn’t spoken publicly since he answered reporters’ questions following the game. He then deactivated his social media accounts after receiving death threats. 

The staff at Ten Lives Club have not spoken to Bass yet, but they are saving the hundreds of letters and notes addressed to him that donors have sent.

“We hope that he is seeing all the support that has come his way and what an amazing thing he’s done to help our cat rescue and our rescue cats,” LaRussa said. 

It wasn’t just Bills fans who sent money to Ten Lives Club. The rescue has received donations from fans of the Chiefs, Dolphins, Patriots and Steelers, said LaRussa.

Support has come in from across the country, especially from Bass’ home state of South Carolina, and even internationally from people in Australia, Ireland and Canada, Ten Lives Club founder Marie Edwards said. 

Companies have also gotten in on the giving. 

Celebrity chef Rachael Ray and her pet food brand, Nutrish, donated $30,000, and Tito’s Handmade Vodka gave $5,000. Azuna, a local company that makes pet-safe air fresheners and odor eliminators, donated $5,050.

Philanthropic Buffalo clothing company 26 Shirts created a Meowfia T-shirt and $8 of every sale will go to Ten Lives Club. Local small business Buffawix Candle Co. will donate a percentage of every Meowfia Furever Strong candle sold to the cat rescue.

“Thousands and thousands of people, strangers that never heard of Ten Lives Club are standing up for Tyler Bass, so I feel like the cats just got lucky in this,” LaRussa said. 

“Everyone’s stepping up and wants to help the Meowfia,” she added with a laugh. 

Started in founder Marie Edwards’ garage in 2001, Ten Lives Club has grown into a rescue that was able to help more than 3,000 cats last year.

The money raised is going directly toward the care of the cats, LaRussa said. 

“Right now, those cats are going to get all the help that they need to find their forever homes,” LaRussa said. 

The average healthy cat costs Ten Lives Club around $475 to care for until it is adopted. With 3,000 cats a year, that’s $1.4 million. 

However, Ten Lives Club also cares for cats that have health issues, which increases the rescue’s costs. 

Cats that come to Ten Lives Club with dental issues can cost nearly $2,000 to care for until they are adopted and the rescue usually gets 75 to 100 felines with dental problems per year. Injured and sick cats can cost on average $1,200. 

Most of the cats come to Ten Lives Club as strays. Before they can be adopted, they undergo a full physical, dental checks and blood tests, Edwards said. All cats are microchipped and spayed or neutered if they are not already.

It cost the rescue more than $164,000 to fix 2,200 cats in 2023. Special food, medicine, vaccines and bloodwork are an additional $194,000. 

And then there are general maintenance costs – insurance, cleaning supplies, utilities – which tack on another $100,000 or so annually.

Ten Lives Club has at least 250 cats in its care at all times spread out across 19 adoption locations.  

The rescue’s main shelter is on Lake Shore Road in Hamburg and there are two satellite adoption locations at Transit Hill Road Plaza in Depew and the Walden Galleria in Cheektowaga. Ten Lives Club cats are also available for adoptions at various pet stores across Western New York, like Pet Supplies Plus, PetSmart and Petco.

Edwards said the rescue has plans to build a new, bigger shelter in the future. Ten Lives Club has been at its current location since 2014.  

While the rescue has 38 employees, it still relies heavily on volunteers to help care for cats at the shelter, assist with adoptions and plan fundraising events. 

Ten Lives Club accepts monetary donations through PayPal, Venmo and its website, tenlivesclub.com, where it also lists the food and supplies most needed. 

The rescue also works with several recycling centers that donate money from returned cans and bottles. 

Ten Lives Club hosts many events and fundraisers, like the annual chili cookoff, bingo games, bake sales and annual calendars with local police departments.