WEST CAPE MAY — When all hope is lost and the world seems against you, where does one find the strength to open locked doors, to persevere and overcome obstinate obstacles?
For Maria Powers of Piscataway, that fortitude was instilled by her mother. Adopted along with three sisters and two cats, Powers says her mother worked endless hours to keep the family afloat.
“My mother sacrificed her whole life for us,” Powers said. “And my love for helping people was built in my childhood.”
The cats played a significant role, her mother taking great care of them as well, Powers said, and the two implanted in the children what care and love really meant within a household and the community.
In August 2024, Powers founded Maria Meows, a non-profit organization in Piscataway dedicated to finding homes for stray cats, its motto being “Changing lives, one kitten at a time.”
In late August, a man from East Brunswick was late for an appointment he’d scheduled to neuter one or two of his cats and Powers decided to drop by his house to see if anything was wrong.
What she found was a case of hoarding — months-old trash, newspapers, old clothes and shoes, crumbling walls — his entire existence strewn everywhere. And living among this were cats. Many cats — at least 100 cats and kittens at first count.
“Please help us!” read the Facebook post, and when Shelley Van Dyke, president of Animal Outreach in West Cape May, clicked on the page she was horrified. It showed a video of the inside of a disheveled home where cats were living alone.
She phoned Powers and found there were actually 250 cats living there, some in the walls, some falling through ceilings — malnourished and some disfigured because of in-breeding.
Van Dyke called the listed phone number and spoke to Powers, who was frantic to get the cats placed somewhere — anywhere that would take them.
“They were all under 2-years old,” Van Dyke said. “They had bred and bred and interbred. It was a heartbreaking case of very good intentions gone terribly wrong.”
Powers told Van Dyke she had contacted the city of East Brunswick and was told they couldn’t or wouldn’t help and there was an eviction notice scheduled with a deadline of Sept. 15 for the owner and the cats.
“The animal control office was just going to let the cats out onto the streets to fend for themselves,” Van Dyke said. “I just couldn’t let that happen.”
Finding room at shelters nation-wide is always an arduous undertaking. Most are usually full and finding foster homes can be difficult.
Maintaining shelters is equally as complex. Volunteers are the life blood with animals needing 24-hour care.
Time was running short.
Van Dyke agreed to take 10, including “Patty” who was pregnant.
“When we got back to the shelter, we had Cape Veterinary Hospital in Cape May Court House examine the cats for neutering and the kitten who was pregnant went into labor. She delivered one kitten but was exhausted and there were two more to birth. Thankfully, the doctors were able to help her and all were just fine except for Patty, who needed extra love and care after her ordeal.”
Word went out to the community of East Brunswick through the Marias Meow website about what had become known as the “The Hoarding House.”
The community also read her urgent pleas on East Brunswick’s website looking for towels and food and help with the garbage.
“Large rescues don’t normally come together,” Powers said. “But in this case, it wasn’t only my plea for help but also the cats’ pleas wanting to have a better life.”
“The owner’s daughter had recently died and he basically just let the cats run the house,” she continued, “and the people of the city helped because the city officials hadn’t. I did not shame the owner. I introduced him as a human being to the community and was able to find him a mental health doctor who he now sees regularly and is on a waiting list for housing.”
In all, 14 New Jersey shelters stepped in to help place the cats, including the Cape May County Animal Welfare Society, the North Jersey Kitty Committee, the Dutchie and Cat’s Amazing — an organization that understands that many rescues and shelters are at capacity and often cannot accept older cats or those with medical and physical needs, elevating the risk of euthanasia, and also works with PetSmart.
Van Dyke was thrilled to say the 10 cats Animal Outreach took in have all been adopted, including Patty and her three kittens, and at last count each and every one of the 250 had found rescue or permanent homes.
“Animal Outreach was wonderful,” Powers said. “They were sincere and not picky about any of them, including Patty. I warned them one might be pregnant but no one was upset and she was very, very welcomed. Saving them was only possible with rescues like Animal Outreach.”
By JENNIFER KOPP/For the Star and Wave
