he combines her zeal for the arts with her passion for cats.

As a volunteer, Amanda Zellers heads the fundraising initiatives and serves as vice president for the Palmerton Cat Project.

In her spare time, Zellers uses her artistic flair to brighten the windows of local businesses to reflect the holidays and seasons.

Zellers joined the Palmerton Cat Project, for which she serves as vice president, two years ago and became an officer last year.

“I volunteer specifically with this because I am passionate about it, about animals and their needs,” Zellers said. “Sometimes it’s just nice to get out of the house and see things from other people’s perspectives, and see things that you might not on your own.”

Zellers credited her mother, Robin Gardner, for instilling volunteerism in her as a child.

“We always had a lot of animals growing up; it’s something that I always gravitated toward,” she said. “There were so many needs in the rescue, and then I kind of just started volunteering with it.”

A resident of Towamensing Township, Zellers said the Palmerton Cat Project works to trap, neuter and release feral cats, and works with placing cats in foster homes and eventually permanent homes.

“A lot of the colonies, we work with colony heads, usually like a neighbor that will discuss the amount of cats in their environment, they contact us,” she said. “We will provide traps or go out and trap ourselves with the humane traps.

“After a cat is trapped, we will get them to one of our clinics as long as they have spots open. They will do the spaying and neutering for us, and after, they will be returned back to the colony where they came from and then released again. Then they get an ear tip.”

“Right now, we’re having a hard time adopting out,” she said. “We have a lot of adoptable cats and kittens right now that are looking for homes.”

Zellers said the Palmerton Cat Project currently has a Kitten toy drive that’s ongoing and will run up through Christmas. She said it has an Amazon wish list on its Facebook page, and added that the Palmerton Preschool and Children Center is also accepting donations of any size.

On the side, Zellers freelances and paints windows for various businesses in the Palmerton community and beyond.

Among them are Palmerton Preschool & Childcare Center, and Papa Al’s.

On Tuesday, she painted the windows at Iron Valley Real Estate Northeast and AS Public Notary along Forest Inn Road in Palmerton.

Then, on Wednesday, Zellers painted the windows at the home of the Beck family, owners of Becky’s Drive-In in Lehigh Township.

Zellers said she also plans to go to George’s Plumbing, Heating, & Fuel Oil Inc. Aquashicola, L.A. Glow Tanning Salon in Palmerton, and Little Bombers Daycare and Learning Center in Palmerton.

“I’ve been slammed with holiday winter decor-themed stuff,” she said. “It’s something that I love doing.”

A 2006 graduate of Palmerton Area High School, Zellers said she’s been an artist since high school,

“I like the creative freedom, she said. “It’s my happy place, where I can kind of shut everything else out.”

Zellers said she has specifically worked on window painting in the last year, and added that she does a lot of different mediums in art, different glass work, all types of paintings, and cut dolls.

She can also be seen at local events doing face-painting as well, such as Carbon County Plant Fest in Lansford, and Rocktoberfest in Lehighton.

Zellers also has a Facebook page, Bentbristles.