Meet Midnightrabbits, our animal charity fundraiser coordinator

Note from me: Midnightrabbits (Kim) coordinates the requests that EFA receives from animal charity groups for handmade items to be used in fund raising activities. Kim lives in Wales and has seven cats and three dogs, as well as the five kittens and their mother that she just rescued. In addition to all her work for EFA, she also helps coordinate the AWBAR street team.

Midnightrabbits says:

For as long as I can remember I loved animals and abhorred animal cruelty. My late teen years saw me involved in peaceful protest groups such as anti-apartheid, then Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth. Somehow I became vegetarian, which naturally developed into veganism a few years later. I studied Fashion design at college and loved finding and working in fabrics that were vegan friendly. I was and still am involved with my local animal rights group F.A.U.N.A - Friends of Animals Under Abuse. I helped them by making a huge banner for demos, and did lots of marches and demos in London to protest animal cruelty. I made friends with some wonderful people, and still keep in contact with them now. I admire their devotion to animals and their beliefs.

Since leaving college, I have worked freelance for TV and Film in costumes (of course) and in a theatre wardrobe department, where I got to make some fabulous elaborate costumes that I would never have done in 'real life'. Along the way I did the odd craft fayre and commission, but still had 'ordinary jobs' of varying sorts. The advent of the internet eventually led me to Etsy. I found it by chance through an internet search - this amazing place where artists could display and maybe sell their work.

Suddenly I was inspired to create again. I set up my shop. As most newbies do, I poodled around the forums, 'bumped' into some friendly veggie people, and somehow- not sure how- found EFA. EFA had not long set up, and the EFA shop was just forming. I loved it from the start. Here I could combine my two passions - helping animals and creating wonderful things. I've donated several items to the EFA shop, small bags and catnip toys.

I tend to make things that I like, rather than looking at what sells or is in vogue. I enjoy making things to send to the EFA shop and also for various animal causes that need items for their fundraisers. Since joining EFA, I've become an Etsy addict. I've joined several other teams, Cruelty Free Etsy, Vegan Etsy, UK Street Team, EtsyVeg, and one I helped to set up, AWBAR. I've met a wonderful variety of people who have become my Etsy friends. I've developed my computer skills with the help of these talented people and now have a blog, and yahoo and Flickr accounts.

I've recently taken in a stray mother cat who had 5 newborn kittens so the last 5 weeks have been hectic. She's a firecracker and I can't get near her, but the kittens like to play and are not so timid. They are now eating and have developed well, and mother cat is a little more chilled out with us playing with the kittens. We will soon get the mother cat spayed and put her back to where we found her (in a garden greenhouse) with a feeding programme in place, and find homes for the kittens. Fingers crossed it will all go to plan and end with smiles!