hen five cats needed medical attention after a Palmerton home caught fire, volunteers from the Palmerton Cat Project were there to help.

Two cats died in the blaze, which left one person with second-degree burns. But the living felines were taken to receive veterinary care.

In the tragedy’s wake, the Palmerton Cat Project posted a donation link to Facebook, which ended up raising enough money to cover medical bills incurred for the cats’ care, according to Barb Greenzweig, its founder and president.

“It’s just a small way of helping,” Greenzweig said. “We were happy that we could do that.”

Palmerton Cat Project officially became a nonprofit in 2017, though one could date its formation back to 2014, when Greenzweig and her husband, Justin, decided to stop the reproduction of a feral cat colony in the borough.

In fact, if one really wanted to, they could trace Palmerton Cat Project’s beginnings back to Greenzweig’s parents. Greenzweig grew up in rural Macungie, on a property her parents owned spanning up Doe Mountain. Greenzweig said her parents were compassionate and kind, traits she inherited.

Compassion and kindness probably aided Greenzweig in her career as a behavior specialist with the Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit 21, where she worked for over 20 years. Before that, the Macungie native, who has a bachelor’s degree in psychology, earned her master’s in human services while working as a military police officer in the Army. She was stationed in Germany during the Cold War.

“I feel honored that I had that experience,” Greenzweig said. “Wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

Greenzweig left the military in 1980. About three years later, she took a corrections officer posting at Lehigh County Prison. There, she met Justin. The two married in 1983. They bought a house in Justin’s hometown of Palmerton, where they raised four children.

Around 1997, Greenzweig got a part-time job at the CLIU; she went full time about six years later. Greenzweig said her job stayed mainly in Carbon County, where she worked with children who had autism, or emotional or behavioral issues.

“I really enjoyed what I did,” she said.

About five years before her retirement in January 2019, Greenzweig’s compassion led her down a path she never would have imagined taking.

A feral cat colony was growing a few blocks away. Greenzweig and Justin chose to intervene. Their plan was simple: to stop the colony from getting bigger through a tried and true process known as TNR, or trap, neuter, release.

But once the word of their efforts began to spread, some neighbors joined in to help, and the Greenzweigs were made aware of another feral colony.

Eventually, they were led to an even bigger one, made up of more than 70 felines, located at the former Horsehead site.

“When we went to see it,” Greenzweig recalled, “it was horrific.”

Greenzweig and her team didn’t have the resources, or the funds, to deal with that feral population alone. So, they partnered with Forgotten Felines and Fidos, a Germansville-based shelter.

They managed to trap and neuter every cat in the Horsehead colony.

And in 2017, Palmerton Cat Project was officially born.

Asked if she ever saw herself starting a nonprofit, Greenzweig replied without hesitation.

“Never,” she said with a laugh. “I didn’t wake up one morning and say, ‘Gee, I’m going to start a nonprofit.’?”

But looking into the eyes of the felines she trapped, knowing that her actions helped change their lives for good, Greenzweig said, propelled her forward.

“A lot of times,” she said, “I’ll look at them in the trap and I’ll say, ‘You may not know this, but today is the best day of your life.’ And that’s what keeps me focused.”

Therese Podoyak, a volunteer at Forgotten Felines whose service spans 20 years, said feral or stray cat populations aren’t issues organizations, like Palmerton Cat Project, should have to deal with alone.

“It’s a bigger problem than just one or two groups can handle,” she said. “It’s something that the whole community really should be involved in.”

Speaking of Greenzweig and her extensive efforts to rein in Palmerton’s stray cats, Podoyak said the cat advocate has prevented the suffering of many felines “that people just don’t see.”

“The power of one person, it’s pretty impressive,” Podoyak said. “At least, when it’s her, it is.”

Palmerton Cat Project doesn’t have a physical shelter. It consists of six foster homes, trappers and a board of directors, who to this day feed, care for and help rehome Palmerton’s forgotten cats. The organization, made up completely of volunteers, has helped more than 700 of them to date.

“It really only takes one person to do something,” Greenzweig said, “to see a problem and to try to address it.”

According to the Humane Society of the United States, there are between 30 million and 40 million stray or feral cats roaming nationwide. Of that huge figure, only about 2% have been spayed or neutered.

The Greenzweigs own four cats: Kelsey, Thomas, Pilar and Missy. The cats they keep, Greenzweig pointed out, are the ones nobody else wants to adopt. If they can’t find a feline’s forever home, then Greenzweig makes a home for them. “Luckily,” she said, “I haven’t had to do that too often.”