Deborah Cribbs

Scooter the Neutered Cat™ took Greater Cincinnati and the nation by storm in 2013 with an edgy, irreverent and hilarious campaign that encouraged spay/neuter and feline education with the goal of creating a more cat-caring community. Nearly nine years later, Scooter the Neutered Cat’s™ initiatives have been an unequivocal success. The shelter live-release rate (percentage of cats that enter shelters and are released/adopted) was merely 37% for cats in Cincinnati when Scooter™ debuted. Today, that rate is more than 95%. These tremendous results are thanks to several factors, people and organizations, including the leadership of Deborah Cribbs, a director of the Joanie Bernard Foundation and founder and leader of the Give Them Ten™ Movement—the parent organizations of Scooter the Neutered Cat™. Today, Cribbs considers herself “Scooter’s™ mother” and has committed herself to improving the (nine) lives of cats. Cribbs’ personal experience has deepened her connection to the work of the movement she leads. She has a colony of community cats in her backyard and is an admitted “failed” foster parent who fell in love with her foster cat and ended up adopting. She has overseen every Scooter™ campaign and continually encourages her creative team to keep pushing boundaries to spread awareness for spay/neuter, community cat education, and adoption and fostering efforts—all supporting the mission to create more cat-caring communities. When Cribbs—whose career is in the banking industry—and the board were originally bequeathed the money from the Joanie Bernard Foundation, their only charge was to improve the lives of cats. Due in part to Cribbs’ vision, they have accomplished that and so much more. In addition to playing an important role in dramatically raising the live-release rate to unprecedented heights in the region, Cribbs has guided the Give Them Ten™ Movement to provide support, forge partnerships, and build a coalition with shelters, adoption/foster organizations, and spay/neuter clinics in 23 counties across Southwest Ohio, Southeast Indiana and Northern Kentucky. The important work of the Give Them Ten™ Movement has been featured in dozens of conferences, podcasts, webinars and other media. This includes the 2021 Animal Pets Alive! conference, HSUS 2022 and 2023 Animal Care Expo, the 2021 Online Cat Conference, the Community Cats Podcast, the Animal Welfare Junction Podcast, HBO’s “Real Time With Bill Maher” and Spike TV’s “Funniest TV Commercials.” Cribbs believes there is still plenty of work to be done. The Give Them Ten™ Movement continues to fund creative public service campaigns spearheaded by Scooter the Neutered Cat™, including the “Mild Kingdom” initiative for community cat awareness and “Scooter’s™ Foster Roster” to encourage fostering, as well as past campaigns like “Cat Math” and “Talk to Your Cat About Sex” that have sparked viral interest across the country for their fun, cheeky takes on life-saving resources for cats. Most recently, the Give Them Ten™ Movement launched “The Great Debate,” a campaign positing that whether people love cats or hate them, there’s one thing both sides can agree on: Cats should be spayed or neutered. The Movement™ also started Scooter’s™ Help Center, a one-call resource line where anyone in the region can get their cat questions answered by animal specialists and get connected to cat resources. Beyond these initiatives, the Give Them Ten™ Movement is expanding its reach by inviting like-minded organizations to join the movement and now has member organizations across the U.S. from Hawaii and Washington to Georgia and many other states. These organizations are creatively leveraging Give Them Ten’s™ strategies and tools to foster communities that care even more about cats. A devout animal lover, Cribbs is a vegetarian who enjoys trying new foods and an occasional glass of red wine. She also loves books, Star Trek and international travel, which sparks new opportunities to learn and appreciate cultural differences. She lives in Cincinnati with her husband and pets. Cribbs and Scooter™ have no plans to slow down. They will continue educating the public until all communities are 100% cat caring.