BLAIR COUNTY, Pa. (WTAJ)– A rescue organization for strayed cats that also operates as a café for customers is moving to a new building in Altoona.

Second Chance Strays Cat Rescue & Lounge will be located at 1101 13th Avenue, just down the street from city hall, and will hold their grand opening on Feb. 11. They used to be located on Allegheny Street in Hollidaysburg.

Their grand reopening will take place from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

“You don’t even have to be adopting to come in here, um, cats are very therapeutic so I think it just benefits everybody to be able to come in here and just spend some time with cats,” owner Summer Socie said.

Volunteers at Second Chance Strays say rescue organizations like this are vital to control the stray cat population in our area.

“Just having one thing…the Central PA Humane Society is great but there’s just too many, overpopulation of pets,” Tracy Sprankle, volunteer at Second Chance Strays said. “They can’t handle everything. And other local rescues are so valuable because they pick up where they obviously they just can’t, it’s such a big problem.”

The new location in Altoona will give them much more room to take in those cats. According to the volunteers, the new location is more than triple the previous building size and it includes a basement.

Socie already has big plans for all that new space. The new café will include a lobby for check-in, an adult cat room, two kitten rooms, an office for cats looking to live in a single-cat home and the basement.

The basement will be used for quartering new cats and eventually, it will also be used as a food pantry for the animals.

The pet adoption service is still working on getting everything ready for their grand opening. For more information about Second Chance Strays can be found online at their Facebook page.