Wichita’s SB Mowing rescued a cat; online followers then rescued entire cat sanctuary

Are you one of the more than 40 million online followers of Wichita’s SB Mowing ?

If so, you now have a cat sanctuary’s new medical wing named for you.

How the SB Mowing Community Wellness Center came to get its name is the story of a gravely wounded cat, a cat sanctuary that wasn’t faring much better and a young Wichitan with a popular business who helped save them both.

SB Mowing owner Spencer (who doesn’t share his last name for privacy reasons) is known worldwide — three billion page views and counting — for mowing people’s out-of-control yards for free and sharing the work and his results via YouTube, YouTube Shorts, TikTok , Instagram , Facebook and Snapchat.

Lots of people say it’s relaxing to watch sped-up videos of the work and its amazing results.

Though his home base is in Wichita, Spencer travels to work in Texas and Florida during the winter.

He was mowing at an abandoned property in Corpus Christi in February when he found a cat that wasn’t moving.

In fact, it was covered in grass clippings from when Spencer was mowing nearby.

“I knew something was wrong.”

He also seemed to immediately bond with the cat, getting emotional at one point while talking about him in his video of the job .

“It was super nice.”

Spencer made lots of calls, but he said no one would take the cat. He said one place even suggested leaving him in the yard to die.

Finally, Edgar and Ivy’s Cat Sanctuary said it would take in the cat.

“They got him taken care of real quick,” Spencer said. “I was really, really appreciative of it.”

The cat had abscesses under his leg, which was swollen to five times its size.

“He definitely would have gone septic and died pretty quickly in that yard,” said sanctuary owner Anissa Beal. Spencer “found him just in time.”

Beal happens to be a huge SB Mowing fan, except she didn’t recognize Spencer. She thought he was a just a well-meaning, unassuming kid who mows people’s yards.

“I had no idea he could even give me $100,” Beal said.

That’s what Spencer gave her for treatment of the cat, whom he named SB, which has turned into Esbee.

He learned about the sanctuary’s mission and asked if he could start a GoFundMe campaign .

“I like to say we’re kind of a last-chance shelter, and we’ll take the cats no one else will,” Beal said. “We see horrible things, but as long as the kitten is alive, or the cat is alive, we have hope. We fight for them.”

She said she puts tens of thousands of dollars of her own money in it each year.

“I was paying payroll out of my pocket. I was subsidizing everything. It was getting really rough.”

She said she began to think about closing, especially if she couldn’t get the $20,000 she desperately was seeking for a new medical center.

Around Christmas, Beal said she’d prayed for a sign that she should keep going. She had no idea Spencer might be it, even when he was at her place.

Then Beal noticed all her college-age employees giggling in the supply room. They’d figured out who Spencer is, and then Beal said she went all fangirl on him, too.

“I was blushing, and I got starstruck.”

Beal told Spencer the GoFundMe, even if it raised only the $10,000 Spencer thought it might, would be life-changing for the sanctuary and cats in need.

Neither expected what followed.

The campaign has raised almost $200,000 so far. More than $100,000 in private donations have come in on top of that, and several Amazon trucks of supplies have shown up.

“People just went and bought everything on their wish list,” Spencer said.

Local news in Corpus Christi has covered the story , and an international TikToker named Jenn “thatgoodnewsgirl,” who is known for posting something positive each day, shared the story last week. It has 10 million views so far.

Spencer had raised almost $10,000 for a disabled Wichita veteran once, but the campaign didn’t go viral like this one did.

“It was an unreal feeling,” he said. “It’s been really cool.”

When Beal told him she wanted to name the new center for him, Spencer suggested she name it for his followers instead.

“It’s not because of me,” he told her. “It’s because of the community that follows me.”

There was a ribbon cutting at the new center on Friday, a couple of days after the SB Mowing Community Wellness Center sign went up.

Esbee wore a special bandanna for the event, and most everyone else wore SB Mowing shirts.

Beal said Esbee, who has recovered completely, clearly is the boss of the place.

She said he’s smart, affectionate and vocal — all the things you wouldn’t expect from a feral cat.

“We say, ‘Yes, sir,’ ‘No, sir.’ He does whatever he wants.”

She’s decreed no one is allowed to move him even if he’s lying on their keyboards.

One employee complained when Esbee peed on her shoe, but Beal wouldn’t hear it.

“I said, ‘Esbee pays you.’ ”

Beal said that thanks to Spencer, his followers and Esbee, 700 cats and kittens have been saved since Esbee was.

The sanctuary adopted him, and Beal said Esbee likes helping at intake, especially with the kittens, often bathing them.

“He is an alpha cat. He is a sassy little guy. . . . He’s something else. . . . We’re in love with him.”

Spencer tries to keep up with Esbee and said he’s thrilled to see donations are still coming in, especially with a resurgence of the story thanks to coverage of what his followers have done.

“There’s so much negativity in the world that to just spread the smallest bit of positivity is really good for people.”

He’s now getting numerous requests for more GoFundMe campaigns, but he said he doesn’t know what is legitimate and what isn’t.

Spencer still is open to helping where he can, though.

“Whenever something kind of comes my way naturally, I love to do it.”

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