LANSDALE, PA — Thousands of dollars have been raised from hundreds of donors to raise funds to build a memorial for Charlie, the beloved Lansdale cat often known as the “The Mayor.”
Charlie passed away from a traumatic injury in mid-August. But for years, he and his brother Sonny were a beacon of friendliness and joy at White’s Road Park: two cats escorting visitors down the trail and developing something of a cult following online.
“His bliss became others’ bliss,” one fan wrote on Charlie and Sonny’s dedicated Facebook group, which has over two thousand followers.
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Stories have flowed in particularly hard in recent days with the news of Charlie’s passing, tales of passerby who were going through challenging times and whose hardships were lightened by a loving feline head bashed into their legs.
Charlie lived with a family in a home nearby the park, but spent most of his time out and about with Sonny. Often Charlie would be gone for hours and sometimes days on his expeditions, building a vast network of human friends.
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The goal of Charlie’s family and closest friends is to build a memorial garden with a statue dedicated to Charlie within Whites Road Park.
Organizers say they’ve been in talks with Lansdale Parks and Recreation to get the necessary approvals for the memorial.
They’ve also been given the services of BSB Design Philadelphia, a landscape architecture firm that plans to donate their work to design the memorial itself.
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More than $5,600 had been raised as of Wednesday afternoon. See the GoFundMe for more details here.
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