[shetlandlover]

‎***HELP NEEDED PLEASE***Woodlands Animal Sanctuary at Holmeswood is in desperate need of help to get through the winter. Woodlands cares for rescued Ponies, Sheep, Goats, Ducks, Chickens, Guinea Pigs, Rabbits, cats, Hedgehogs and ex cage bi
rds. We have 129 permanent residents on site plus 31 cats for rehoming and 42 hedgehogs that will need over wintering. We have never seen the rescue situation so bad, we are taking up to 30 calls a day to take unwanted cats, kittens and rabbits and hedgehogs still continue to come in as the weather changes so dramatically and they can’t cope without a proper food source.
As the recession hit, Woodlands has had an exceedingly tough time, donations in general are down and intake is up like never before. We had lots of big ideas this year about rebuilding the delapadated stables and the shelter block, but all our funds have gone on running costs, these include food, bedding, gas, electric, vet fees and general
day to day costs. We are running on a shoe string budget at the moment, we don’t have large amounts of staff, we are run mainly by a small dedicated team of volunteers and a very small team of 4 part time members of staff. Our daily running costs are around £250 which equates to £1.24 per animal per day, which compared to other animal shelters that are a similar size who have running costs of over 10k a week, so that gives you an idea of how stringent we are with our cash! We need £22,000. To see us through to Easter next year and we need all the help we can get to raise it! We are having a coffee morning on Friday 9th November at St Johns, Liverpool Road, Ainsdale and we are having two Christmas fairs, one on the 17th November at Gregson Lane Community Centre, Gregson Lane, Houghton and one on the 24th November at St Johns, Liverpool Road, Ainsdale both of them are from 11am until 3pm.
If you can find it in your heart to help the animals at the sanctuary see the winter through please get in touch, donations can be made to Woodlands Animal Sanctuary, Sandy Lane, Holmeswood, L40 1UE or can be made via paypal on the website Woodlands Animal Sanctuary - Home Page

Direct link to the donate page:
Woodlands Animal Sanctuary - Donate

Please help this sanctuary, they are very good, very caring and one of the best in the North, any little will help them alot.

 

[Ang2]

Just bumping. Have just made a small donation and hoping everyone can donate a little something no matter how small

Its just frightening to think that they might run out of food for the animals!

 

[Muze]

Wish they were nearer, I'd love to help more.

Can only make a small cash doantion at the minute and will do asap

 

[Zayna]

Wish they were nearer, I'd love to help more.

Can only make a small cash doantion at the minute and will do asap

same here

 

[Guest]

I'm in Oz and am broke. Can you doorknock any neighbours to ask if they have any books, toys, etc, to donate to a big garage sale... If you have a friend with a garage and front yard... Or run it from the charity, and hope they also get some people falling in love with some of your inmates.

Also Sled Dog Hotel will give you the names of dog magazines that have appeals pages for vet bills and raise funds for rescue charities. There is also a website for people to ask for help, and you explain why you need help, and people donate if you move them. If you can put up a photo of a pretty girl, and your cutest puppies, you may do very well. I only stumbled upon it once, and some people had donations, when I thought they should have got a kick up the urse. Can't remember the name of the site.

 

[912142]

Can I make a suggestion that may help you in your efforts to bring awareness to your sanctuary whilst raising cash.

Some of the large companies have funds set aside for charities. For example what was HBoS (now Lloyds) survey staff on a yearly basis to see which charity they will guarantee funding (1m) throughout the year, then the other two get something like 250k. If you approach the department that looks after this and arrange to do a small presentation you might just make it onto their list.

That's one - second is you can set up a stall in one of their larger offices canteen and sell stuff - it's a pre-set date and again you can make posters for their noticeboards to highlight the event to staff.

Three - they actively promote volunteering, so for example the staff are permitted to do so many days per year volunteering at charities, now again your charity can gain a wealth of experience by using these volunteers who come from varying backgrounds with extensive knowledge in their field. So for example if you needed someone with strategic management experience which would help your charity forward plan then you would let the company know that these are the preferred skills you are looking for. Or if you wanted to have a collection day and needed volunteers to assist you could ask for that.

Lastly, if you managed to get a contact name of say an Executive Assistant and ask if they will hold a coffee morning to raise awareness of the charity and raise cash that could be done too. These sorts of things are done on a regular basis. Again you would have to prepare posters for noticeboards possibly with some pictures showing the good work you are doing and success stories too.

Hope this helps.

Oops meant to say - there are loads of people who come back from holiday with unwanted foreign coins, they can't spend them and they can't change them but a charity can if they are in excess of £100 so set up a bin for foreign coins and encourage the public to drop by and give you their foreign coins - you would be amazed how quickly you can raise £100 with that!

 

[912142]

Contact the vets in your area and ask if they have any medications that are nearly out of date that may not be used or ask if you can put a poster up on their noticeboard to highlight the plight of your sanctuary.

Contact local florists and ask if they would donate a small proportion of their profit to the sanctuary. It needn't be much on each bunch of flowers but it all adds up.

Some of the car distributors add £5 on the sale of a new car which is donated to charities. Send a flyer out to them or see if you can get the name of the chief executive of a motor group and target him/her.

Get your fingers in as many pies as you can and you are bound to get a slice!

 

[Ang2]

The Dogs Trust have a large dustbin in my local Morrisons for people to drop food, blankets and other useful donations. Most people regularly buy an extra tin/bag of cat/dog food to drop in the bin. Its always full and they empty it several times a week or it would be overflowing.

Please please try this with one of your local supermarkets.

 

[shetlandlover]

There appears to be a misunderstanding, I don't work for Woodlands (although I've applied to volunteer there and am awaiting response) My friend however does work for them.

I will pass this thread to her, so she can pass the idea's on ect.

 

[Guest]

bumping this

 

[Ang2]

just bumping