Welcome back everybody.
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:Today, I'm joined by Rebecca from
Helena's Community Cats of SOWGA.
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:We'll be talking about the important
work her organization does to help
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:community cats and improve the lives
of cats throughout their region.
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:Let's dive in.
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:hi, Rebecca, and thank you
for coming on Animal Posse.
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:Rebecca: You're welcome.
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:Glad to be here.
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:Dixie: I am looking forward to hear
about all the work that you do with
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:Community Cats with your new 501[c][3].
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:Tell us a little bit about yourself
how did you get involved with Community
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:Cats, and if you can tell us- Okay
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:a little bit about your nonprofit as well.
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:Rebecca: Sure.
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:So I have always been an animal lover,
and that's going back , since I was a kid.
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:And between that and my mom's
encouragement to just give back to
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:the community, I started fostering
animals years ago dogs and cats and
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:found that my my dog doesn't care for
foster dogs in the house but has no
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:problem having more cats in the house.
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:So I switched solely to fostering cats.
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:And I moved to Georgia from California a
little less than two years ago now, and
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:I noticed here where I'm at in southwest
Georgia, there isn't a lot of focus on
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:the cat situation that we've got here.
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:We have quite a lot of animal
dumping that happens here.
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:Not a lot of people are spaying and
neutering their cats or their dogs
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:and so surprise litters happen and
people just get rid of the puppies.
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:And so I started fostering dogs
actually again here because they
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:would just be on the side of the road.
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:But I found that there were plenty of
dog rescues, and when I say plenty,
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:they are at their max just like our
humane societies are, but we have them
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:and I wasn't seeing anyone focused
on the cat community and felt like
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:that was an area of opportunity.
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:So decided to take my energy and put
it into trying to figure out how to
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:solve the cat problem that we've got
here, like I said, in southwest Georgia.
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:So we've got many colonies of cats
and those are feral cats born into the
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:colonies as well as dumped cats which
are potentially great for adoption.
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:And so my original inspiration
was to be a rescue sanctuary
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:TNR g- vet services, like really thought
I could jump in and solve all of the
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:world's problems and have very quickly
realized I need to start somewhere.
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:And the initial focus is on
TNR and and then bottle babies.
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:Kittens that are either abandoned by
their mother or or taken by a human
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:from the nest that the mother has
created and created a situation where
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:a kitten is dependent on humans.
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:That's the initial focus of the nonprofit
right now with grand plans to continue
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:to evolve that over the years as we
become known and are successful in
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:grant funds and things of that nature.
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:When did
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:Dixie: you start the nonprofit
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:Rebecca: yeah.
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:So we officially started October 2025,
and it is Helena's Community Cats of SWGA,
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:which is what we call Southwest Georgia.
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:Helena is my mom's name, and
so I did open it in her honor.
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:As I mentioned, she's was
very philanthropic and gave
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:to all kinds of situations.
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:Wasn't necessarily a cat person,
which is everyone's first question.
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:"Oh, did your mom love cats?"
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:Nope.
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:But she loved helping and so
decided to do it in her name.
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:Dixie: So now I have to ask, since you
did come from California and you go
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:to Georgia- Yeah … i'm in Louisiana,
and the kitten seasons that we have
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:here , it's absolutely brutal right now.
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:Every- Yes
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:spring and summer it is brutal, but this
year it just seems even worse than ever.
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:So we have it here because
we're so warm in the South, we
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:have constant kitten season.
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:We might get two months off which
is usually January, February,
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:and then after that's it.
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:We're back into kitten season.
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:And we're lucky if we get
January and February off.
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:How- Yeah … does Georgia compare to
California in terms of the number of cats
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:and kitten seasons and that type of thing?
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:Rebecca: So I would say Georgia
is more aligned with Louisiana, so
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:definitely kitten season is always on.
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:And additionally in California there, the
regulations around just animal control
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:are much stricter or, and enforced maybe.
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:Not totally clear on
the politics of it all.
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:But I will say you are not getting
an animal in California outside of a
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:breeder that isn't spayed or neutered.
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:So whether it's a rescue, whether it's
a humane society, wherever that animal's
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:coming from it's, you're not gonna have
an accidental litter in your backyard.
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:And which is just already controlling
the pet population more than what
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:we see here where there isn't a lot
of that oversight on animal control.
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:And I just think about Bob Barker and
"The Price is Right," like every day now.
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:I'm like, "Please help
control the pet population.
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:Have your pet spayed or neutered."
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:Because here I, I literally see it
driving down the road, the impact of
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:not spaying and neutering your animals.
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:Dixie: Yeah.
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:And it's funny with the whole thing with
Bob Barker and "The Price is Right,"
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:because when I was a child, that's what my
grandparents would watch every single day.
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:So every summer- we were watching
"The Price is Right," and that
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:message really came through.
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:And I think that's why there's so
many people that's in my particular
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:age bracket, I'm a Gen X-er, that-
Same … are so pro-spay and neuter.
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:And I really- Yeah … wish that something
like that would come along for future
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:generations because, it seems you just
don't see it like especially now, like
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:with the younger people coming up, lot
of them just don't even think about it.
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:They just don't understand
why they should do it.
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:Rebecca: Yeah, and there's a lot of
incorrect teachings around it in terms
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:of, "Oh if you spay, then your female
dog is gonna get breast cancer."
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:And I've heard some real crazy
things that people have spread
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:incorrectly about what will happen
if you do spay or neuter your pet.
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:And it's oh my gosh, can we
gotta stop that noise as well.
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:Dixie: It's just like
a never ending cycle.
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:Rebecca: I will say that I have
noticed that here in Georgia,
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:spaying and neutering is more
expensive than in California.
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:So I don't know if there are subsidies
that happen in California for that.
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:We're gonna finally have a low-cost clinic
opening here in August, but until then,
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:it's very, in my opinion, expensive to
spay like a healthy young animal compared
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:to what you'd pay on the West Coast.
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:Dixie: Yeah.
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:Now let me ask you too, when you said that
California is so much stricter I know-
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:… like here all, of course, all the rescues,
all the shelters here, they are spaying
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:and neutering before they go out the door.
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:Unless it's going to a foster.
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:If it's going to a foster, they're,
maybe they're too young for spay or
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:neuter, but before they're ever adopted,
they are all spayed and neutered.
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:Now, the problem that we have is people
finding kittens and picking the kittens
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:up, which is a whole nother thing.
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:… they'll find the kittens, they'll pick
the kittens up, they'll take on to
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:social media to just give them away.
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:Rebecca: Yes.
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:Dixie: And that causes a huge problem
here, because even as a rescue, I have
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:made the offer to help people, hey, at
least, let us help you get them spayed or
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:neutered before they go to their new home.
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:Or make the offer, hey, we can take
them, and a lot of the times they'll
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:go with somebody else just because
it's oh that person commented first,
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:and it's- … just unfortunate because
some people might have the intentions
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:of spaying and neutering them, and they
don't realize that when they reach four
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:months old, they can be reproducing.
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:And so it's like surprise litter.
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:And then other people have zero
intention of spaying and neutering.
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:So how does California
combat that problem?
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:Or do you see that happening as well?
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:Rebecca: So there's so many
things I wanna cover in that area.
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:Before California, but specifically
here, we are going to be much
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:more proactive in education.
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:So I'm connecting in with social groups
like the Girl Scouts of America and
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:other groups around town where we can
come bring these cute little kittens
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:that I constantly have in my life now,
grab the attention of folks and then
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:teach them about how quickly they have
babies and just cat math these people
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:to death so that they can really get it.
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:Because I am one of those people.
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:I was a 19-year-old, had my first
two cats, and all of a sudden had
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:a pregnant cat, and I had no idea
that before one year old my cats
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:could get each other pregnant.
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:I had no idea.
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:And ended up having three kittens
that I had to find homes for.
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:And so luckily, that was enough years
ago that I've now had generations of cats
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:that aren't reproducing accidentally,
but you don't know what you don't know.
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:And so I do think education is a huge
responsibility of those of us who do know
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:to go out and help spread the good word.
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:I also have been like you on social
media trying to get my hands on those
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:animals that are out there for free.
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:I'm really concerned
about it for two reasons.
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:One is the overpopulation, also the
potential of using those animals
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:as bait animals in dog fighting.
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:So I like just feel compelled
to try to get the animals into
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:a safe space, spay and neuter
them, and really vet the adopters.
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:So there's a lot going on here that I am
trying to get involved in , to hopefully
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:Help in both of those directions.
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:In California but one of the things
on social media with animals is a lot
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:of pages didn't allow, and I actually
thought it was a Facebook rule the
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:gifting or selling of animals on Facebook.
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:And now being here and seeing it, it's
not a Facebook rule it was rules of pages
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:that happen to be based out of California.
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:And so that's one thing is there just
wasn't a pipeline of those animals.
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:Now, California has other ways to get
a free animal, like Craigslist which
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:is definitely a way that you could
you could get an animal that's not
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:going through a shelter or a rescue
and therefore not spayed or neutered.
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:But it's a lot harder there to just
find an just to scoop an animal up off
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:the road, which here that is not hard.
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:I could probably go do
it right now if I tried.
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:So again, I think there's probably some
regulations and how those regulations
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:are enforced is a big part of it.
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:Yeah.
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:And I did talk to the Georgia
Department of Ag about that.
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:Not an official, but an employee
of the Department of Ag and asked
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:about the lack of severity in
our pet reproduction laws here.
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:And what I was told, and again, not
from an official point of view, but just
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:from a person that works there, is that
because breeding of animals, whether it's
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:hunting dogs or other working animals in
Georgia that is what's gonna keep those
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:reproduction laws loose as they are.
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:That they're not gonna have a if
you're in this category, you must
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:spay and neuter, and if you're in this
category, you mustn't spay and neuter."
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:And I don't know how much
truth there is to that.
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:Again, haven't been here super long,
but I am getting more connected with
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:the Humane Society and if I need to
help, do any kind of lobbying I'm happy
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:to get active in that way as well.
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:Dixie: Yeah, that's great.
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:And it's great that you're
gonna be reaching out to
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:all those organizations too.
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:That's actually something that
I was thinking of doing myself,
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:just because it is such a problem.
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:And at least if you reach the kids
or the children, they go home-
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:Yeah … and sometimes they can be very
adamant about things with the parents,
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:Rebecca: yes.
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:I've known people who have quit smoking
because their kids learned about how
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:bad smoking is in school, and they come
home and, they're like, "Oh my gosh,
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:you're gonna die because you smoke."
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:And and parents, you hear that from
this little person that you love,
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:it, changes your views on things.
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:I just happen to be in a fortunate
situation where I am connected
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:with people who are connected
with other people, right?
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:And through whether it's through the
Rotary Club or through the Master
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:Gardeners, through University of
Georgia, there's just a lot of people
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:that are like-minded in terms of caring
about the community, the environment,
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:education of others, and it all comes
together, , in one way, shape, or form.
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:And and so it becomes applicable.
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:So whether, you're talking to folks
about the importance of spaying and
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:neutering cats because the impact they
could have on your bird population or
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:the importance of spaying and neutering
cats because how quickly they, they
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:can make kittens and how is your
family gonna care for those animals.
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:There's a lot of ways to look at
how the reproduction process has
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:an impact in our environment.
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:Dixie: The area that you're in
Georgia, are you in a suburban area?
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:Are you in a rural area?
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:Rebecca: I think we're
considered a r- rural area.
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:It feels like a suburb, but
there's no city, so it's like
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:suburb and then country, so I
think that makes it rural, right?
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:Dixie: I know in Louisiana, in the more
country-type areas, that's where we have
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:the least amount of resources and the
biggest problem with people dumping pets.
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:In fact- Yes … we have country property
we were planning to put our sanctuary on.
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:And We're a cat rescue, but our first
three adoptions were actually dogs because
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:we had puppies dumped on our property.
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:Rebecca: The reason I didn't become
a sanctuary is when I went to the
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:city to actually just to switch the
electric bill over to the nonprofit's
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:name for the building that the cats
would be in they said "Wait a second.
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:We, we can't have you doing that right
now without having somebody on-site or
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:at least somebody patrolling 24 hours
on-site because of animal dumping."
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:And and while a lot of people
were like, "That's not right.
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:They shouldn't be getting involved with
that," I was like, "Oh, my goodness.
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:No, I'm glad that they said that,"
because it didn't actually occur to
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:me that people are gonna say, "Oh,
look, animal rescue," and all of
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:a sudden that's a dumping ground.
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:And so all of a sudden you've got these,
either cats that are running loose
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:that are now either have been rehomed,
but they didn't know that they just
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:got rehomed, or dogs running into the
street 'cause they just got dumped,
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:and the building is on a busy road.
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:And to me, that's the right thing to do.
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:And until we have enough funds coming in
to be able to have 24-hour surveillance I
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:can appreciate why we are not okay to have
a sanctuary in that particular location.
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:I could do it outside this
city boundaries, right?
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:Where you're not gonna have dogs
running into traffic if they're dumped.
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:But but now I would not feel good
knowing that, we're not open on
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:the weekend or something and there
could be an animal starving on the
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:doorstep because nobody's there.
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:And really have to think about the impact
of people knowing safe place to dump
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:an animal means that somebody's gonna
have hands on that animal in a quick
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:enough time that it won't be harmed.
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:Dixie: Yeah, that definitely makes sense.
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:I am foster-based right now.
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:Our long-term goal is to build a sanctuary
up in the country and, but when I say in
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:the country, we're really in the country.
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:Our clos-closest neighbor
might be like a mile away.
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:And but still, it's like out where that
is, you still see people dumping dogs.
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:There's cats too, but like the dogs,
they dump on the side of country roads.
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:Rebecca: Yeah.
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:Dixie: It's so sad and, it's insane.
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:And you try to look for an owner because,
you don't know what the situation is,
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:but most of the time they are just
dumped, it's a accidental litter.
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:They didn't want them,
so they just dump them.
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:And it is very sad.
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:And I've seen it too with the rescues
that we do have in the city that have
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:physical locations, with the amount
of times, and even the shelters,
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:they'll post videos of people
dumping animals, and it's really sad.
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:Yeah.
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:It really is.
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:Rebecca: We have a bunch of dog
rescues here that are very active,
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:but we have one specifically that
the founder is constantly the like
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:almost 100% of the time, if someone
posts it's Peanuts and Friends.
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:I don't know why, but that's where if
an animal's found or seen or whatever,
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:It's almost always her that is going
wherever a dog has been posted, and she's
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:picking that dog up, and she's picked
up just the skinniest starving dogs.
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:She's picked up beat up dogs that looks
like they've been hit by cars, like
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:just all kinds of terrible things.
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:And she's always the one who is
rescuing them, and it's amazing.
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:And she has a full dog rescue
kennels, like the whole nine yards.
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:But , we don't have that for cats,
which is why I wanted to do the
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:sanctuary with the cats because
it's a bit of the same thing where
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:we, people are dumping them too.
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:And you know when you go up to a colony,
if you could pick up a cat, that cat
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:probably, lived at a house not, hasn't
been a colony cat its whole life.
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:You said
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:Dixie: you do the bottle babies too?
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:Rebecca: Yes.
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:So that's what we're focused on.
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:So TNR and bottle babies is the focus.
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:Until we've got more fosters,
like you said, or have the
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:sanctuary in place, we just aren't
able to be, intake for animals.
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:So we only take bottle
babies and then TNR.
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:So I've got three right now
on me literally on my body.
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:Dixie: Yeah, I could hear them.
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:Rebecca: Oh, can
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:you?
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:They're not on a bottle anymore,
but they were when they got here.
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:Dixie: Are they in the swim in cat
food phase, or are they past that?
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:Rebecca: Yeah, they're about there.
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:They're getting better without
all their paws needing to be
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:in the food at the same time.
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:That's what you meant, right?
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:Dixie: That's absolutely it.
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:Yeah.
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:They get so messy- Yeah … when
they're learning to eat, and
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:everybody thinks kittens- Oh my
gosh … are like wonderful, and
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:I'm like, "Kittens are so messy.
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:You have no idea how messy
little bottle kittens are."
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:Rebecca: Yeah.
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:It is so funny, I'm like,
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:what are you doing?"
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:But nope, all the paws are
gonna go right in there.
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:And then also like the
whole face in the food.
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:Like not just the mouth, but
just the whole entire thing.
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:It's like watching when a human
child starts feeding itself and
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:you're like, spaghetti's on the
forehead for a good reason I'm sure.
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:But totally the same thing.
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:Dixie: I imagine you have a big
problem with the people that kind
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:of catnap the baby kittens too.
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:Rebecca: Yes.
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:So they think they're helping, bless them.
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:They think that they're
doing the right thing.
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:They don't realize that
the mom is coming back.
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:And there's a partner organization
that is a little bit newer than
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:us, but has been around the folks
have been around the town longer.
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:And we've been partnering in our efforts
just 'cause, the more the merrier.
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:And and they're Southwest Georgia
Fix-Fixers and, We've been trading
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:off, who's taking in bottle babies and,
who's full up kind of thing so far.
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:And when we are able to, between
the two of us, talk people down
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:from removing the kittens, it's
"Oh my gosh, thank you so much."
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:And then we try to make sure that once the
kittens are weaned, that we will be the
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:ones that get those kittens because we've
got the pipeline to PetSmart for adoption
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:or other places to get the kittens out
and adopted through vetted partners.
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:And that's the big goal.
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:But people get mad when they
find out their cat had kittens.
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:That continues to surprise me.
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:And they take the kittens away 'cause I
don't know what they think that's gonna
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:do other than put the kittens at risk.
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:But they are like, "Oh, my cat
shouldn't have gotten pregnant.
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:Take these kittens from me."
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:And it's "Oh gosh,
that's not how it works."
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:But and then those poor mama cats, what
they go through, I can't even imagine.
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:But there's also sometimes good stories.
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:So I have been contacted
before had a mama cat…
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:a woman had a mama cat whose kittens
didn't make it, and she was fully
345
:lactating, and I had bottle babies
that we put with her, and they
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:took to each other right away.
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:And so that mama cat automatically
had two babies, and those two babies
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:didn't have to be bottle babies.
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:So those are fun stories to have too.
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:Dixie: Yeah, and that always
makes it so much easier too.
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:Rebecca: Oh my gosh, yeah.
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:Dixie: Do you have an incubator
for them or do you just do like the
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:heating pad or the heating disc?
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:Rebecca: I do a heating
pad in a baby playpen.
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:Trying to think of the name of it.
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:So they have their heating
section and non-heating section.
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:When they're little, eyes
closed, still little, they're
358
:obviously just on the heating pad.
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:They don't move much, but plenty
of space in case they need to.
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:Dixie: Yeah, I just got some incubators
from a grant that we received.
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:Oh.
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:And I will say the incubators I
got They were RCOM Brooder B90Ns
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:I think.
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:But absolute game changer, 'cause for
years I did either the heating disc or
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:the heating pad And you know how sometimes
the kittens will get fussy, and it just
366
:seems you- can't do anything to get
them to be quiet, and they'll just, you
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:could feed them, you can make sure that
they have their heat, but they just, for
368
:some reason - Yeah … get very fussy.
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:I found with the incubator, you
feed them, you make them go to the
370
:bathroom, you put them in there, and
they're quiet until the next feeding.
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:Rebecca: Really?
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:Dixie: Yeah it is like
a total game changer.
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:I never expected that aspect of it.
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:I expected it more to be for the
consistent heat, and then if- … I needed
375
:to hook up like a nebulizer or something
like that to it, then it's contained.
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:Which you could use for the kittens with
a respiratory or something like that.
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:But- Yeah … I got it more for
the constant heat so that I didn't
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:have to worry about getting up and
checking the heating pad or, heating
379
:up the heating disk or, worrying
about it being too hot for them.
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:And- Yeah … I never
expected that aspect of it.
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:So I think I'm on my third litter that
has been in the incubator and, like I
382
:said total game changer because they
get in there and even when they start
383
:getting old enough, on that like kind
of two-week stage where they start
384
:playing with each other a little
bit, you'll just watch them- Yeah
385
:and they rolling around in there,
and they're entertaining themselves.
386
:They go to sleep, and- Aw … they're
just so comfortable in it.
387
:Absolute game changer
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:Rebecca: I will have to look into
that because I would do anything to
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:make it more comfortable for them.
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:I thought we'd hit the jackpot with
this setup now with the the playpen,
391
:'cause it just gives them so much space
and is a little bit off the floor,
392
:so I'm not like getting into a pet
pen that's all the way on the floor.
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:And I was like, "Oh, I'm winning now."
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:But if there's something even better,
then we definitely would wanna get it.
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:Although, one of the things that we're
finding is even to get fosters for the
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:bottle babies, having to get the whole kit
of items that they need is so expensive.
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:And so that's a whole nother area of,
that we're noting of at what age do we do
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:fosters later in the bottle feeding era.
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:Maybe at four weeks we put them with
fosters and stick with my friend
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:and I are the ones that just take
the itty bitty ones so that we don't
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:have to have all of the special
equipment at all foster locations.
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:What's your solution for that?
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:Dixie: We have a very difficult
- time finding bottle feeders here.
404
:Rebecca: Okay.
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:Dixie: We have the people that
either don't have time, with
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:their jobs, and I understand that.
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:But then you also have the people that
are just, very scared of bottle feeding.
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:I have tried to do bottle feeding classes.
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:… And so we have had several of those to
kinda get people on board and at least
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:introduce people to bottle feeding.
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:Even if they don't do it,
at least they know about it.
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:Rebecca: Yeah.
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:Dixie: And, we've had quite a
few people sign up for those,
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:so , that's a good thing.
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:I was thinking of putting together
some kinda kit for the people who
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:did wanna bottle feed, but as far as
fosters, I'll kinda leave it up to them.
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:I will do it to where if they're
comfortable taking the litter,
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:from bottle feeding to up ready for
adoption, then they'll do it that way.
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:There are some people that
prefer to just do bottle babies.
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:So for those people, once the
kittens are weaned, then what we'll
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:do is put them with another foster.
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:Rebecca: Okay.
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:Dixie: So it really kinda just depends
on the foster that you're dealing with.
424
:Rebecca: Yeah.
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:Dixie: But I find fosters are in short
supply, period, and then when you're
426
:talking about trying to find a bottle
foster, that's even harder to find.
427
:Rebecca: Yeah.
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:I agree with you that there definitely
aren't as many fosters as we would like.
429
:Yeah, it's everything.
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:Looking for donations and the people
whose eyes glaze over when I say it's
431
:for cats versus, what about all the
children that need something or the
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:dogs or the everything that people put
in front, put ahead of cats in creating
433
:that compelling story to get people
to, to put money in place where, you
434
:know, for the benefit of cats has been a
struggle as well as the foster situation.
435
:But the people who love cats really
love cats, and those are the people that
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:we're finding for fostering, which is,
always amazing because then you know
437
:that somebody's heart is really in it.
438
:Dixie: Yeah, absolutely.
439
:Thank you- … so much for taking the
time to speak with me about your endeavor,
440
:and I wish you much success on it too.
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:Yeah.
442
:Rebecca: Thank you.
443
:It's been great talking with you
and hearing about what you've got
444
:going on in Louisiana as well.
445
:And I've been listening to some of
the podcasts that you've already
446
:had, have posted and it's been super
informative too 'cause, still being
447
:very new to this every story helps.
448
:So I appreciate you being out
there and sharing all these great
449
:stories from around the country.
450
:Dixie: Yeah, absolutely.
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:And when you listen to the episodes,
there's a lot of people too that are
452
:willing to help if you have any questions.
453
:Oh, good.
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:If you come across any of them,
if you have any kind of questions,
455
:you can always reach out to me
and I can hook you up with them.
456
:But usually we'll put the information
in the show notes as well.
457
:But- Okay … i'm so happy that everybody
is so into sharing the information
458
:Thanks for listening.
459
:And I'm glad to hear that the- Yeah
460
:episodes are helping you out,
'cause that's what it's all about.
461
:Yeah.
462
:And that's what my goal was.