ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) – Kelsey Eutsler and Stephanie Green met while working as veterinary technicians together, the bond of caring for animals, and wanting to do more for them, inspired the two to create the Toebeans Cat Café.
“I wanted to help cats in a different way, besides in the medical sense,” said Stephanie Green, one of the co-owners of the café, “You see all these posts on Facebook where all these cats need homes, and you want to help, but you have only so much space in your house, and it’s not responsible take a bunch of cats on.”
“I’ve always had a long-time dream of opening a coffee shop, but adding in one of my passions, which is animal welfare, is a big plus,” said Kelsey Eutsler, one of the co-owners of the café
Walking into the shop you’ll smell coffee, and local pastries from the Roanoke CO-OP, and on the walls, you’ll also see some children’s art from local schools.
“If I were a kid I would love to see my art in a cat café, I’m an adult and would love to see my art on the wall in a cat café, I thought it would be really cool,” said Green, “and the goal is to keep it going. The plan is to sell these off and give the money to the art department at the school.”
“Our entire motto is a homey feeling, a home away from home, and having children’s paintings on the wall is the most homey you can get,” said Eutsler.
The duo say the community is the whole reason the café came to be, with hundreds flooding the cafe’s social media to support the cafe’s opening
“We’re a business made by the community for the community and it’s really exciting to get to meet some of those people,” said Eutsler
“We’ve had a bunch of cheerleaders along the way. Cause we’ve had a lot of ups and downs, not to sound cheesy, but we do feel like family with these people, cause they really have seen the whole journey for us,” said Green.
All cats inside the Toebean café are adoptable. They work alongside many shelters in the area to help when they’re overcrowded.
You can cozy up with a cat and a nice cup of Joe starting December 11th, the cafe’s grand opening happening the same day.