- Inspired by "Fat Bear Week," Constellation Cat Cafe in East Lansing started their "Chonky Cat Bracket" last year, highlighting huskier cats from around the area.
- The bracket is back this year, with a goal of fundraising for a cat lock at the Cafe's new location in Old Town.
- Video shows employees of the Cafe describing the bracket, as well as explaining the need for the funding.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
Bracket Season is just around the corner, and while the Spartans prepare for the NCAA Tournament, a different bracket is helping a small business.
Constellation Cat Cafe is holding its second annual "Chunky Cat Bracket," all to help with the Cafe's future.
"This year, we received over 100 submissions," Paula Crow, the cafe's social media manager, said.
Inspired by the National Park Service's "Fat Bear Week," the Cafe started the bracket to appreciate huskier cats from around the area. It's back for the second year, this time raising money as the Cafe looks to move into its new location in Old Town.
"We still have a ton of renovations before it's safe for us to move there," Kelsey Maccombs, the Cafe's founder, said. "So right now, we're focusing on fundraising for the cat lock, which is the space in between the cafe and the cat room that makes it safe for us to have coffee in the same building where we have cats."
Keeping the space and the cats is important to the Cafe's mission.
"We were founded to help find homes for rescue cats by working with existing rescues and doing marketing with them," Maccombs said. "So you can bring your coffee over here and enjoy it while you're playing with cats. And if you happen to fall in love with a cat, they can come home with you."
While last year's bracket champion just won bragging rights, there might be a bigger prize this year.
"This year, still the same with bragging rights, but we're also going to try to incorporate them, like onto our cafe menu," Crow said.
Early voting to determine what cats will move on to the official bracket is already open on social media, as well as in person at the cafe. The official bracket opens Monday, and will run through the end of the month.
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