Bianca's Furry Friends - 2016 Update

Unlike the former Howard 101 show Back Office Radio, the blog is back from a hiatus with an update on the favorite charity project of Howard Stern and Beth Stern - the Bianca's Furry Friends addition to the North Shore Animal League ("NSAL") headquarters in Port Washington, New York, as well as information about the somewhat clandestine Bianca's Furry Friends Foundation, which appears to be separate from the NSAL.

History

Animal lovers have been waiting for years for this project to get started - it resembles the plot of an early Seinfeld episode in which Jerry, Elaine and George were waiting for a table in a Chinese Restaurant - each time they would ask the maitre d' about the status of their table, he would tell them that it would be ready in five or ten minutes.

Similarly, it seems like the NSAL and its spokesperson, Beth Stern, continue to tell folks that the 14,000 square foot addition (with an estimated cost of $7 million) will be breaking ground "next spring" or at some other time in the near future, but it never seems to get started.

Timeline Recap

For those who don't recall the exact timeline, here is a quick overview (see last year's post for more details):

May 2013 - initial announcement of the master plan for Bianca's Furry Friends

May 2014 - Beth and an NSAL executive state that Bianca's Furry Friends is expected to break ground "next spring" (i.e. spring 2015)

January 2015 - Beth announces that they are "3/4 of the way there", with no estimate of when it will get started (the NSAL financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2014 show that there were about $4.25 million of assets restricted for use to fund BFF):




Spring 2015 - estimated start date mentioned in 2014 passes without anything happening

Subsequent Developments

Since the blog post in March 2015, there have been a few more developments regarding Bianca's Furry Friends, none of which involve the commencement of any actual construction:

November 2015 - another year, another NSAL gala with proceeds going to Bianca's Furry Friends.  Beth dropped a couple of nuggets about BFF while promoting the gala, and told Newsday that they were trying to raise the "final $1 million" to get the project funded and said in another interview with HNGN that:

   ""Bianca's Furry Friends, yes, that's going to break ground right after the new year," Ostrosky Stern told HNGN."

As the gala was only a few months ago, no one knows how much money it raised.  However, the NSAL's Form 990 for 2014 indicated that the amount of 2014 gala proceeds (gross, not net of expenses) was around $356K - this was down, way down, from the $610K of proceeds from the 2013 gala (see last year's blog post for details); hopefully this trend, unlike the ratings slide during Howard's tenure on America's Got Talent, didn't continue for 2015.



December 2015 - Another Yoda Book

For the second straight year, Beth, along with illustrator Devin Crane and "contributor" K.A. Alistir, released another children's book about her purebred Persian cat and her share of the proceeds would again benefit Bianca's Furry Friends.  This year's installment was titled Yoda Gets a Buddy and as of this date, one website estimates its Amazon sales at less than 1,000 copies.  Beth's share of the proceeds from the Amazon sales may not even cover the cost of one of the animal activist's fancy leather purses let alone the somewhat expensive NSAL kitten play palace.

February 2016 - Kitten Bowl

For the third straight year Beth appeared on the Hallmark Channel's Kitten Bowl and she was trotting around to promote the event (unfortunately, ratings were a dismal 0.2, less than a third of the 0.7 rating of Animal Planet's Puppy Bowl and the Kitten Bowl finished well out of the top 100 cable shows of the day).

She also discussed the status of Bianca's Furry Friends in some interviews.

In a WebMD interview, Beth once again broke out her statement that she has no "human children" and said that they will break ground early this year:

""I don't have human children," she says, "so this is my purpose. .... Howard and I are working on a 14,000-square-foot expansion of North Shore's existing shelter, called Bianca's Furry Friends. The space will allow the cats to live cage-free until they're adopted. Friends have been so supportive -- Billy Joel donated over a million dollars, and Rachael Ray presented me with a $500,000 check on her show. We'll break ground early this year."

In a Newsday article, Beth said:

"We are over $7 million, and that means we are ready to break ground,” she said. “We are waiting, I believe, on one more permit and as soon as we get that permit we are ready to go. So I’m thinking that within the next couple of months we are breaking ground, and my dream will finally come true."

Based on that claim, it sounds like the NSAL must have received that "final $1 million" that Beth mentioned in the November 2015 interview with Newsday, although it sounds like the ground breaking date may now be pushed back to April 2016.

Beth also mentioned in another article that Bianca's Furry Friends is "15,000 square feet" (up from the original 14,000 square feet?) and that they're "just waiting on permits".

Separate Foundation

As mentioned before on this blog, Beth is affiliated with a separate charity called the Bianca's Furry Friends Foundation.

Information about this foundation is fairly scarce, as the foundation does not appear to have a website and has not filed its initial Form 990 with the IRS, but a number of documents are available for the public to view online on a database of charities maintained by the New York attorney general.

These filings reveal that:

  (1) the President of the foundation is one Beth Ostrosky Stern,

  (2) the foundation was formed in January 2014 and first began maintaining assets in New York in May 2014 (interesting that this was near the time of the Billy Joel concert when he donated proceeds from a show to Bianca's Furry Friends), and



  (3) the foundation received over $270,000 of contributions through December 31, 2014 and it received its first donation in May 2014 - a check for $250K; this is a nice chunk of change for a foundation which hasn't received much (if any) public discussion. 




It is a bit odd that Beth Stern has never specifically mentioned this separate foundation, which has now been in existence for over 2 years.  Many of the devoted followers of her Instagram account who enjoy the many pictures of cats she posts each day might pony up some money to fund this foundation.

Hopefully the assets held by the foundation may be used to help fund the NSAL addition (maybe to help with the filing costs for the permits that Beth mentioned in her recent interviews).  In the meantime, it is just one more unknown regarding Bianca's Furry Friends, in addition to the moving target date of when the NSAL addition will finally break ground.

September to Remember for Howard Stern

Many conspiracy theorists were worried about ominous events happening in September and although none of these led to the demise of the Western world (shocker), it was not a good month for 61 year old radio host Howard Stern.  Some of the Stern-related highlights/lowlights of the month included:

Hitting It Out of the Park on Sirius/XM

Rebel radio was back on Sirius/XM for a whopping nine shows during the month of September.  The show had 12 guests during the month, including one who was over 80 years old (Carol Burnett).  Guest demographics looked like this:

  One straight man - Adam Carolla
  Two gay men - Neil Patrick Harris and Andy Cohen
  Nine women - Julie Chen, Sharon Osbourne, Ellen DeGeneres, Carol Burnett, Jewel, Pamela Anderson, Beverly Johnson, Cindy Crawford and Emily Blunt

It is a joke to see out of touch media types describe Stern as a "shock jock" in 2015 when he trots out a lineup of guests like this, which makes the Stern channels look like the satellite radio love child of the View and Sirius/XM's OutQ channel.

End of the Line for America's Judge

Howard ended his 4 year run as a judge on America's Got Talent last month, but he didn't exactly leave on a high note.

The rating in the key demo for the finale was the lowest in AGT history and overall, the season had its worst ratings ever.  The show will be moving back to Los Angeles next year and it will be interesting to see whether ratings improve without the power of Stern.

At least AGT made Howard a a tribute video and fans also learned of another of Howard's long list of inventions in his crazy skit with a bunch of kids:



Radar Online, Artie and Marci Turk

In August, a Page Six article in the New York Post mentioned how Stern channels' COO Marci Turk was behind the now-PC image of Howard and the show (although some are more inclined to believe Stern is the reason for his own "evolution" and Marci is just a minion who helps him get things done on the channels).

Artie Lange and John Melendez spoke about this on Artie's podcast and Artie joked about only being able to see Howard if he was tending bar at Jennifer Aniston's next wedding or if he went to a meeting of the Ellen DeGeneres fan club.  This got Stern to discuss their takes on his radio show, subsequent podcast discussions by Artie and a series of stories by Adam Levy on Radar Online, including articles on September 16, September 29, and September 30.

This exchange fueled lots of discussion on social media about Howard's treatment of Artie after his stint on the show ended and more talk about Marci Turk.  Although Howard acknowledged Marci Turk for her work on the amazing birthday bash in 2014, he has not wanted to discuss her too much on his radio show and dropped regular caller Hanzi after he mentioned the life coach turned COO of the Stern channels.

Eventually, Artie tried to downplay any tension with Howard and went so far as to say that Stern is still doing great radio in 2015

Guys I will talk about Howard's Show today on podcast. It's simple if u hear Howard's voice ur hearing the best radio there is always.

— Artie Lange (@artiequitter) September 28, 2015

Whalerock Industries - Kardashian App Downloads Dropping

Earlier this year Whalerock Industries announced that it was going to be developing digital media hubs for Howard Stern as well as other celebrities.

The Kardashian sisters rolled out their Whalerock apps earlier this month, and while they were initially making all kinds of subscriber gains during the initial free seven day trial period, that buzz died down pretty quickly.

According to the Tech Crunch article mentioned above, "unfortunately for the celeb sisters, when the media buzz wore off, so did their App Store downloads. And that means revenue projections have been dropping as well.

Kim and Khloé’s apps were tanking by Tuesday, September 23rd as the paid service kicked off. Kylie’s app hung onto a spot in the top 50 for a time, however.

But by Sunday, September 27th, the decline continued. Kylie’s app is now on its way out of the top 200 Overall, at No. 172.

Apparently many subscribers downloaded the Kardashian apps during the initial free trial, but very few were converted into paying subscribers and downloads were down."

Although the Kardashians are annoying, they are more popular than Stern, so this initial report isn't a good sign for Howard's Whalerock app - HowardTV failed in 2013 and one can't imagine many people signing up to pay for a few long, painful interviews by Stern each month and stale replays of bits that have been repeated on satellite many times.

Kittens, Kittens and More Kittens

As refugees flood across the borders of European countries, Howard has a continuing crisis of his own - another month of cats from the North Shore Animal League invading his mansion in the Hamptons.

Last month, Beth Stern, with plenty of free time on her hands, posted pictures of 10 new cats that the Sterns are fostering in their Southampton crib and 3 of them are vision-impaired (which seems to be Beth's new thing as she readies her social media fans for the new book about a blind cat):

Yogi
Cucumber
Raisin
Potato
Maggie
Rainbow one-eyed 7 year old cat
Milly needs to see eye specialist
Donut
Otter
Wilson (blind)

Fans are still waiting to see if Howard will re-sign with Sirius/XM after his contract expires this year or move on to some other unknown venture - the only things people know for sure is that there are less than 30 live Stern shows for the rest of 2015 and that Beth Stern will go on a media blitz once her new cat book is released in December.  Good times!

New Book for Beth Stern - Who's Your Buddy

Mayday, mayday - calling illustrator Devin Crane and contributor K.A. Alistir, your services may again be required for another book from New York Times best-selling author Beth Stern.  Five star reviewers better get ready for this book as well.

Fans of Ms. Stern were probably rejoicing yesterday as she announced that she has another book deal from Simon & Schuster:

Buddy got a book deal!! Simon & Schuster to release my second children's book for this holiday season❤️ #buddyinspires (100% of my authors earnings will go to @animalleague Bianca's Furry Friends)

A photo posted by Beth Stern (@bethostern) on Jul 31, 2015 at 7:11am PDT

This book will feature Buddy, a blind cat that Beth is fostering and it apparently came to fruition in a matter of weeks, as Beth first mentioned Buddy on June 6, 2015.

Seeing an author like Beth get a book deal so quickly must be frustrating for some other children's book authors who spend time working on their craft, waiting forever to hear back from publishers and attending conferences to improve their skills.

Perhaps these people should post tasteful pictures of themselves on Twitter to help establish credibility as a children's book author, as Beth did on the same day that she announced the new Buddy book:

Proof I can palm a basketball. (Photo by Howard) pic.twitter.com/s7qrHyjDhq

— Beth Ostrosky (@BethStern) July 31, 2015

As noted above, Beth indicated that her share of the proceeds from this new book will be going to the NSAL and Bianca's Furry Friends, which of course still hasn't been fully funded as of this date. 

It is interesting that Beth has not mentioned that there is now a charity called Biancas Furry Friends Foundation.  This new Biancas Furry Friends Foundation received its tax-exempt status in 2015 - it has a different tax identification number than the NSAL but it is unclear whether there is some relationship between the two charities.

One can only imagine how this upcoming masterpiece will read - here's one guess of the storyline:

Scene 1 - Yoda is sad as Beth, rocking a stylish hat, leaves to deliver a foster kitten to its new home (and pose for an Instagram picture with the "forever family" adopting said kitten)

Scene 2 - Yoda is happy as Beth comes home and steps out of the limo with a fresh batch of foster kittens

Scene 3 - foster kittens cause trouble in the Sterns' mansion and Yoda springs into action, getting the kittens out of the animal activist's closet which is filled with expensive leather goods

Scene 4 - Yoda is confused as to why Buddy isn't behaving - "foster mom, what's the deal with Buddy?"  Beth tells Yoda that Buddy has "sad eyes" and cannot see.

Scene 5 - Buddy has to go to the hospital and Yoda thinks "foster kittens cured my sad heart, why can't they fix Buddy's eyes?"

Scene 6 - Buddy comes home and Yoda is confused as to why Beth has a bunch of balloons for a blind cat

Look closely ❤️ #buddyishome #fosterDadOnTV

A photo posted by Beth Stern (@bethostern) on Jul 28, 2015 at 5:12pm PDT

Scene 7 - even though Buddy cannot see, he becomes Yoda's sidekick - together forever!!

A photo posted by Beth Stern (@bethostern) on May 12, 2015 at 11:38am PDT

This book should provide Beth Stern fans with more chances to see her on TV, as well as a few choice book signings - perhaps an encore at the Costco in Riverhead, NY.  If they're lucky, maybe Robin Quivers will again record an audio version of this book.  With all the money that this book will raise, maybe Bianca's Furry Friends may get started before the next Presidential election in 2016.

Sick Cousin of Howard Stern Had to Set Up a Crowdfunding Website

On his June 1, 2015 satellite radio program, an exhausted Howard Stern spoke about how he attended a memorial service for his cousin Stacy, who died late last year and who Howard described as a fun guy.  Howard managed to attend even though his week of judging on America's Got Talent was very grueling and he claimed that "they work him really hard".

To be fair, if the judging involved horrid acts such as the one below, perhaps Howard has a valid point about being tired of watching such nonsense:



There is another side note to the story that Stern did not get to during his jam-packed show, which featured another riveting interview of Melissa McCarthy - Howard's cousin Stacy Gerber had to ask for money on a Gofundme website, as he had to close down his catering business after getting sick.

On the web page, Stacy's spouse said "[w]e have had to close our catering business that Stacy started over thirty years ago, creating closing costs and lessening our income significantly.  We also will be incurring hospital bills and rehab fees."

This appears to be the same cousin that Howard has spoken about on his radio show over the years, and an article about Stacy's 2009 marriage mentioned that Howard was his cousin.  In addition, a woman who looks like Beth Stern appears in one of the wedding pictures and a scroll down the list of donors to Stacy's Gofundme website showed the names of Howard's daughter and sister.  They were able to raise about $13,000, which is short of the $100,000 target (and is also less than the cost of some of the expensive leather purses that animal advocate Beth Stern often carries).

A story from last year indicated that medical bankruptcy accounts for a majority of the personal bankruptcies in the United States, and apparently even those with very rich relatives feel the effects of medical costs and the resulting loss of income after becoming sick.

In the meantime, fans of the Stern show should not forget that Bianca's Furry Friends still needs their money to help save lives (of cats).

Favorite Howard Stern AGT Moments

Howard Stern is back to further tarnish his legacy by returning to serve as a judge on NBC's summer filler show, America's Got Talent.  Season 10 of AGT got off to a shaky start, as for some reason, the millions of Stern fans failed to tune in and the show had its lowest-rated premiere ever, scoring a weak 2.6 in the key 18-49 demo. 

In an attempt to generate some buzz earlier this year, the NBC creative geniuses made a video of the top 10 moments from Howard's three prior seasons on the amazing show.



At least Howard was showcased in this top 10 video, as he was left out of David Letterman's final top 10 list earlier this month.

The AGT video had some odd clips of Howard dancing with other men, kissing Howie Mandel and pulling a card out of some magician's ass - what a wild man!

It's a shame that the clip couldn't have shown more of Judge Stern's antics on the show, as well as promoting it - here are a few other classic moments from Howard's time on AGT:

Samba Audition

In addition to dancing with the shirtless men in the AGT promotional clip, Howard nearly lowered himself onto the face of a young contestant during a samba sequence in the Chicago auditions a few years ago - Howie Mandel had to offer himself up as bait to get Stern away from the young kid (starts around 1:50)



Robin, Everyone Loves it When I Pretend to Like Men

Howard kissed Howie Mandel in the AGT promo video, laid down on top of Nick Cannon in an AGT teaser video and recently broke out the lame schtick again when he tried to kiss David Letterman in his final appearance.

He also danced the salsa with Howie (around the 3:40 mark) in the video below:



However, the show better make sure to keep women from getting too close to Howard - in 2013 he was scrambling to get away when that yucky girl Heidi Klum tried to kiss him, both on the Today show (at around the 2:50 mark), as well as on Extra.

More Great Acts

Howard claimed that he was on AGT to help find great acts and talent. Apparently this included the Olate Dogs (which won the first season with America's judge).

Howard also got a chance to judge "talent" like a gentleman whose skill was getting kicked in the groin as well as a squirrel on water skis:



Family-Friendly Howard

In 2015, there are still some articles which describe Howard as outrageous, apparently written by folks who no longer listen to the show and think that Howard is the same guy who wished cancer on people and thought that gay people could be "cured" by reading his buddy Dr. John Sarno's book.

These days, the former shock jock is instead drawing pretty paintings of flowers:

Howard's painting of the day. pic.twitter.com/YXuOWjw7DT

— Beth Ostrosky (@BethStern) March 15, 2015

Some people who are suspicious may think that Howard is merely tracing these wonderful drawings, as the masterpiece shown above looks very similar to a stock picture found online.

Howard also uses AGT to attempt to create an evolved public image and just a few days ago, Mr. Outrageous was seen on the kids channel Sprout with some chicken puppet character (at around the 2:48 mark):



Hopefully for Howard the AGT ratings will improve for the next show, as the NBA finals don't start until later in the week.  At least with the AGT ratings bar set so low from last season, the PR team at NBC will have an easier time spinning any bad AGT ratings in 2015 and Howard can create more classic moments for next year's AGT promo video.

Kittens, Shoes and Purses

Although Beth Stern was named to Entertainment Tonight's "Power Women of New York" list in 2013, she somehow manages to find the time to post numerous photos each day to social media, usually of (1) a cat, (2) an old photo of herself (though for some odd reason, none from her European modeling days), or (3) a selfie with a cat, often with the powerful woman laying down on the floor in the middle of her busy day.

In a recent interview with Biography, Beth indicated that she uses her social media accounts to spotlight the kittens that she fosters from the North Shore Animal League ("NSAL"):

  "In the animal welfare community, there's a time of the year known as “kitten season,” the period between March and November when the greatest number of kittens are born.  It's a tough, stressful time for shelters everywhere.  So as kitten season approaches every spring, I help local municipal shelters by taking those kittens who are in danger of being euthanized, due to overcrowding and the enormous numbers of cats and kittens inundating shelters.  ....

  Meanwhile, my husband talks about the fosters on his radio show and I post daily pictures on my Instagram site. Social media are amazing tools for getting the word out!"

One has to wonder how much good this actually does - if there are lots of adoptable kittens at animal shelters, an individual who wants to adopt a kitten could easily go to the NSAL or another shelter and adopt one.  If one is only inspired to adopt a cat due to a "celebrity" using kitten pictures to get attention, will that make for a good long-term home?   A few examples:

In October 2014, Beth took a one-eyed foster cat named Apollo home and renamed him Ace - the comments to her Instagram picture indicated that someone had previously asked about adopting the cat BEFORE Beth turned him in to a photo prop:

New Foster Ace. Coolest kitten ever!

A video posted by Beth Stern (@bethostern) on Oct 13, 2014 at 7:03am PDT

   From the comments: 

   User monkandbean: "is this 'Apollo'? We inquired about adopting him. Is he still in need of a forever home?"

  Beth replied "yes! Formerly Apollo. Can email me at ****@gmail.com. Going through potential applications now"

It seems that this foster cat could have been adopted without being renamed and having to pose for a video for Beth.

Note:  in the video above, caring Beth asks the one-eyed cat "where's your eye?"

Recently, there was another foster failure - Beth, as usual, posed for a picture with the new "forever family" of two foster kittens.

However, said kittens were back at Beth's Southampton estate within a week after the new adoptive mom somehow discovered that she was allergic to cats - one would have expected that the NSAL and Beth would have checked out the prospective owner more thoroughly before placing the kittens with that family. 

The foster kittens also provide another side benefit - while posting pictures of them, Beth can show off her expensive goods and not appear too gauche, as the cute cats provide a cover story if anyone wonders why she posted the picture.

Just in the first quarter of 2015, more than a dozen of Beth's pictures show the kittens in 'candid' shots with her leather purses and shoes or otherwise styling in the Sterns' fancy cribs.  Fans of Beth may have trouble keeping up with the dizzying number of photos that she posts each day, so here is a quick summary with links to some of these recent pictures:

March 2015:

Lollipop on a shelf in a sea of expensive pink purses

Whenever I can't find Lollipop, I look on my purse shelf! 👛🍭👛🍭 #girliegirl

A photo posted by Beth Stern (@bethostern) on Mar 26, 2015 at 3:08am PDT

Lollipop with purses again

Lollipop with Jimmy Choo shoes

Lollipop with Beth's shoe

Lollipop surrounded by Beth's shoes

February 2015:

Bluebell enjoying a view from the Sterns' Manhattan apartment

Bluebell with purses and shoes

Bluebell near the shoe closet

Bluebell in giant closet with drawers

Bluebell in front of a few pairs of giant shoes

January 2015:

Calliope in front of Jimmy Choos

Calliope likes Choos 💛

A video posted by Beth Stern (@bethostern) on Jan 30, 2015 at 2:57am PST

Hazel and another foster with a shoe (only one giant shoe in the picture)

Kittens with Beth in front of lighted shoe cubbies

Harvey with a giant gold shoe collection

Harvey behind Jimmy Choo and Gucci gunboats

Where's Harvey?

A photo posted by Beth Stern (@bethostern) on Jan 13, 2015 at 3:59am PST

 

Beth's followers usually just comment on the cute kitten but do not ask why the animal activist has such a large collection of leather goods.

He is on the way to becoming leather. RT if you wish you could've helped him! #LeatherFree pic.twitter.com/sjsQc1Yjge
— PETA (@peta) April 18, 2015

Design Expert

Although HGTV hired Beth to host the horrible one season and done "Mom Caves" show, it appears that the decor of her expensive mansion leaves a bit to be desired, as she has plastered the walls and furniture with many framed pictures of herself.  Over the years, a number of Beth's pictures 'just happen' to catch the Sterns' cats in front of a framed picture of herself:

February 2015 - Beth with Charlie Chunk in front of a huge framed picture of Beth and Howard

February 2015 - Picture of Leon Bear in front of a Happy Wife, Happy Life sign and a framed photo of Beth

Leon Bear sharing words of wisdom.❤️#happywifehappylife

A photo posted by Beth Stern (@bethostern) on Feb 17, 2015 at 10:22am PST

It appears that Beth made a special effort to crop one of her brothers out of this framed picture, which looks like it's from the classic Boys Visit the Hamptons video.

January 2015 - Harvey between two framed pictures of Beth

January 2015 - Bella in front of wall with giant pictures of Beth's horrible magazine covers

September 2014 - Yoda with a framed picture of Beth and Bianca in background

July 2014 - Robin Ophelia foster cat in front of framed picture of Beth and Howard

May 2014 - Yoda next to a picture of Howard and Beth

Lest anyone forget, Beth also has a "traveling collection" of framed pictures of herself, which she broke out in a photo from Howard's AGT dressing room in July 2012:

In Howard's AGT dressing room for a meeting. pic.twitter.com/cB1UGlwY
— Beth Ostrosky (@BethStern) July 23, 2012

Beth cleverly included a picture of Robin to make it seem like it was not all about her, but she forgot to include any pictures of family man Howard's three daughters - oops. 

With only another Hallmark kitten baseball special called the Paw Star Game coming up in July, fans and followers of Beth should brace themselves for a continued barrage of kitten pictures for the foreseeable future.

Spring 2015 - Bianca's Furry Friends Still Needs Money

Spring is in the air, and fans of Howard Stern, Beth Stern and the North Shore Animal League ("NSAL") must be waiting with bated breath for the start of construction on the Bianca's Furry Friends project.  After all, Beth told folks after the Billy Joel concert in May 2014 that "because of his huge donation, we are on target to break ground next spring!"  An NSAL executive also mentioned this time frame in another article about the project in 2014.

Sadly, as of this date, there has been no announcement of when said ground breaking will begin, so fans are left to wonder when that special day will arrive.

The Goal

For those who are not aware of the project, here is some background.  In July 2012, Bianca, the pet bulldog and frequent photo companion of Beth Stern, passed away. 

Beth is a spokesperson for the NSAL and in May 2013, she announced that the NSAL would need to raise $7 million to build an addition to its existing facility called "Bianca's Furry Friends" (the addition to be named in honor of the Sterns' dead bulldog) - this project was described as:

"a 14,000-square-foot second floor to our existing Adoption Headquarters that will feature a cage-free environment for up to 200 cats and kittens.  ...

But there’s more! Bianca’s Furry Friends will also include an advanced Wellness Center; a 24-hour-care feline Nursery exclusively for pregnant and nursing mama cats and their newborn litters; a Surgical Center; and more."

NSAL Already has a Cage-Free Environment - the Cat Habitat

Beth often mentions the cage-free benefit of Bianca's Furry Friends, which is certainly a noble concept.

However, it is odd that Beth does not mention that the NSAL already has a cage-free environment for cats which is called the "Cat Habitat" and it has been in existence for years.  The NSAL describes this paradise as a place where:

  "All of the surfaces are covered in cat-friendly materials so our feline inhabitants are able to roam freely, play, and socialize with their cat friends 24 hours a day.  Located across the street from our Adoption Center, the Cat Habitat gives cats a chance to stretch their legs, sharpen their claws and mingle with their friends. This open-space living is especially helpful to, and appreciated by, cats that have been in our care more than 30 days."

Fun fact:  some of the photos of the cats available for adoption on the Cat Habitat site are by Ellen Dunn, who is Howard's sister.

$7 Million Needed

As mentioned above, the estimated cost for the kitty addition is $7 million for a 14,000 square foot facility - this is no chump change undertaking and it works out to $500 per square foot.  That's quite an expensive addition, although the total cost is less than the rumored $8-10 million that Beth and Howard Stern spent to remodel their mansion in Florida. 

While building costs vary among different regions of the country, it is interesting that another animal shelter on Long Island (Kent Animal Shelter in Calverton) is constructing a new 10,000 square foot building that will only cost an estimated $2.5 million ($250 per square foot).  One has to wonder why the NSAL addition costs so much more per square foot, especially when a good amount of the addition may be an open space kitty play area.

Fund Raising

Although the Sterns spent many millions of dollars to acquire and reportedly remodel their Palm Beach estate, Beth and Howard are looking to the public to fund the cost of Bianca's Furry Friends, and Beth has been active in making appearances to mention the need for peasants to open their wallets to help fund this project.

Here's a look at some of the fundraising highlights since the lofty dream of Bianca's Furry Friends was initially announced:

1.  Kitty Tea Party - July 2013.  In July 2013, there was a kitty tea party to get the ball rolling with donations for Bianca's Furry Friends.  No mention has been made of how much money was raised although it provided Beth with an opportunity to pose for some photos and post a picture of herself online.

Thank u @1800flowers for the cute flower arrangements at my kitty tea party/adoption event yesterday @AnimalLeague pic.twitter.com/hyly6yCRXO
— Beth Ostrosky (@BethStern) July 25, 2013

2.  NSAL Gala 2013.  The NSAL has an annual gala, and in 2013, proceeds from the gala were to  benefit Bianca's Furry Friends.

Shortly after the 2013 gala, the NSAL claimed $1 million had been raised to date to fund Bianca's Furry Friends, with $610,000 of the proceeds from the 2013 gala:

"Nearly $1 million had been raised to date for Bianca's furry Friends, with $610,000 raised from the Gala alone - a fact that moved Beth Stern to tears as she thanked everyone who had come out to support the project.  "Bianca’s Furry Friends is going to be an amazing addition to Animal League America’s campus," she said. "It will serve as a role model for other humane organizations, and that is a beautiful legacy for our precious Bianca.""

However, based on the NSAL's annual report, it appears that the estimate of the amount raised from the gala was the gross amount - there were over $130,000 of direct expenses from the gala:

Perhaps large event costs such as this are one reason why the NSAL has a fairly poor rating among animal charities on the Charitynavigator.org site - as of this date, it is ranked in the bottom 10% of the 460 animal charities on that site.

3.  NSAL 2014 Calendar.  The Sterns collaborated on another calendar to raise money for Bianca's Furry Friends - Beth again posed for pictures with animals and Howard broke out his expensive camera to show off his photography prowess by taking pictures for the calendar.  

While it is unclear how much money they raised for the NSAL with this project, at least Howard's photography "skills" did not land him on the Photoshop Disasters website again, as was the case with his masterful work on the 2012 NSAL calendar.

4.  Billy Joel Concert - May 2014.  Billy Joel generously donated his share of the proceeds from his show at Madison Square Garden to Bianca's Furry Friends and Beth glossed him as "Saint Billy" for this kind gesture.  Beth also went up on stage with a dog to show her thanks to the piano man.  The amount of the proceeds generated by this concert have not been publicly disclosed although after the concert, an NSAL executive indicated that the project was more than halfway funded.

5.  Lewyt Luncheon - June 14.  The NSAL has a luncheon each summer and the net proceeds from the June 2014 luncheon were to benefit Bianca's Furry Friends.  The individual tickets for said luncheon were $200 each, with sponsorship opportunities ranging from $2,500 to $15,000.  One will have to wait to see how much this 2014 event raised.

The NSAL did not disclose the tally from the 2013 luncheon, but in 2012, the NSAL received about $60,000, net of expenses, from the luncheon.

6.  Gold Coast Affair - July 2014.   This summer affair in the Hamptons sounds a bit pretentious, as it is described as follows:  an "affair, held on July 18, brought together East End animal lovers at Prime Restaurant in Huntington for tasty cocktails, delicious hors d’oeuvres, and sushi while being treated to a luxury yacht and auto show."   Beth posed for a number of photos at this grand event as well.

7.  Yoda the Miracle Cat Book.  Author Beth worked with contributor K.A. Alistir and illustrator Devin Crane to create the fictional tale of Yoda - The Story of a Cat and His Kittens, and her share of the proceeds (i.e. not any proceeds retained by publisher Simon & Schuster, K.A. Alistir or Devin Crane) was to be donated to the NSAL for Bianca's Furry Friends.

As of this date, one site estimates Amazon sales of the hard cover version of the book at less than 3,100 plus another 180 or so of the Kindle edition - hopefully Beth was able to sell more copies through other retailers, as this level of sales isn't exactly going to close the gap to get the kitty wing funded.

That said, the book provided many opportunities for Beth to promote herself the book and the NSAL, such as:

  * Numerous book signings, including one at the Bookends bookstore

  * An appearance at something called the AOL Build speaker series

  * An appearance on Extra!

  * An appearance on Fox and Friends

  * An appearance on Access Hollywood

  * An appearance on the Today show

8.  Rachael Ray Donates $500K.  During Beth's promotional book tour, the Sterns' friend Rachael Ray ponied up a large gift of $500,000 to the NSAL to help fund the project.  

During Rachael's appearance on the Stern show, Howard again pulled his "bad with math" schtick and asked "is that like a half million dollars?" at around the 2:15 mark of the audio clip:  https://soundcloud.com/howardstern/rachelray-biancasfurryfriends 

9.  NSAL Gala 2014. Once again proceeds from the annual NSAL gala were earmarked for Bianca's Furry Friends - the amount raised from this gala has not been mentioned. The event allowed supporters to sponsor the event at levels ranging from $10,000 to $50,000 - Beth was listed as a sponsor, but surprisingly it was at the minimum level.

10.  NSAL 2015 Calendar.  Even though the Sterns did not create another amazing calendar for 2015, proceeds from the NSAL's calendar for this year will also benefit Bianca's Furry Friends.

11.  Mingle 4 Mutts - January 2015.  Beth attended some New York City matchmaking event early this year and proceeds from this evening were donated to Bianca's Furry Friends.  The cost to attend was $225 and Beth posed for some pictures again at this event.

See some awesome moments from Mingle 4 Mutts https://t.co/2pNdzgyHiM @BjornandCo @AnimalLeague @BethStern #Mingle4Mutts #singlesball #party
— Marina (@MarinaNysocials) February 9, 2015

In the video mentioned above, Beth takes to the podium to talk about Bianca's Furry Friends again - (starts at around the 7:30 mark) - at the 9:16 mark, Beth mentions that they now need $8 million (wasn't it $7 million throughout 2014?) and claims that they are "three quarters of the way there", so hopefully Bianca's Furry Friends will get built in the near future.  If all else fails, Beth and Howard may need to create a 2016 calendar or Beth may need to pen another kitty book, perhaps featuring one or more of the endless stream of foster kittens or a magical cure of her sick cat Apple.

PSA - Make Sure to Ask the NSAL About Pet's History When Adopting

Even while Bianca's Furry Friends remains a pipe dream, hopefully people who choose to adopt animals from the NSAL have better luck than one woman who is currently suing the NSAL for failing to disclose that an animal had an aggressive history and had been returned to the NSAL on more than one occasion.  Apparently the woman, Alice Tighe, was bitten in the face by the dog she adopted from the NSAL - the NSAL did not inform her that the dog was returned twice, one time after the family babysitter threatened to quit because she did not like the dog and another time after the dog bit the 12 year old daughter of his second not so 'forever family' in the face.  The woman did not ask the NSAL about the dog's history as she thought she had no reason to inquire about it.

The case is apparently scheduled to go to trial at the end of April 2015.