Friday, May 14, 2010

Its the small things that matter

Without donors, charities simply dont exist. Being in the animal welfare realm is harder still because animals fall after human need and there are a zillion charities set up to help humans all vying for supporters and donors to keep their programmes running. So any person or organisation that contributes to our programmes is a friend indeed.

Facebook is a brilliant invention. It has its downfalls and critics but overall is gives us the opportunity to distribute information and communicate with supporters with very little effort and zero financial output. By posting quick little notes on my own profile and the SPAW supporters page we can recruit volunteers and encourage donors from all over the world.

Which brings me to the crux of my blog today.

I want to say THANK YOU to two donors who have made my day through their generosity and understanding of the job we face in carrying out important work in the pacific that will ultimately improve the way animals are treated and the life they live.

Today at SPAW we received an incredibly generous donation from Cathy King of World Vets, all the way in the USA, of over 1000 heart worm tablets. This kind of donation makes me literally jump up and down with excitement because it is so valuable. We could never afford to buy it and dont yet have a profile global enough to source it for free ourselves so I am incredibly grateful. Of course, our global profile and donor streams will increase over the coming years, but for now, we are very much at the grass roots stage of our development.

I have been told that currently, they have absolutely nothing in terms of flea and worm meds on the market in Tonga so the tablets will be well utilised.

Also, I must thank Julie Muir from New Plymouth who collects all sorts of product from veterinary clinics and doctor rooms and ships them up when and as she can. Today 3 boxes of medicines and surgical utensils were delivered from Julie. This donation will be taken up to Tonga on the 22nd May 2010 and used to help relieve the suffering of the many animals we know are in dire shape without any relief for their various ailments.

If you have access to veterinary products, please donate it to SPAW.

Karen

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Thank you World Vets

There are many animal welfare agencies around the world that do amazing work recruiting volunteers and bringing awareness to the many issues that face the animal world today. World Vets is one of those.

Thanks to World Vets, we have 1000+ dosages of heartworm medication to take up to Tonga with us on 22nd May 2010. By providing this simple tablet medication to animals, their basic health can be improved.

Thank you World Vets.

Friday, May 7, 2010

Hi everyone

Well, this is my first blogg. Excellent to finally have this sorted. The main reason for this blogg is to document, to those of you that are interested, the new project we are engaging in, up in the Kingdom of Tonga and Nuie.

As you can imagine developing a new charity that involves setting up a new animal clinic on a rather isolate island that has absolutely NO animal welfare legislation and resourcing this initiative is a huge task that is taking up every spare minute of my time. Not only do I have to inspire and recruit really valuable board members, there is the organisation of NZ charity status, writing deeds, developing a website, branding, researching funding and revenue streams and sealing local on-island buy in of our ideas within Tonga. This is just some of what is required in the initial phase of Project Tonga and although I know that I will succeed through pure passion and tenacity, it sometimes seems like I have bitten off more than I can chew. Oh well, we just have to get on with it, which brings me to this blogg.

On 22nd May, I fly up to Tonga with our good friends at the WSPA and a kind veterinary friend who will act as an advisor, to meet with stakeholders and animal welfare advocates in the Kingdom of Tonga. We are making great progress with booking in meetings with various agencies that have a vested interest in our offer to help the dire situation with overpopulation and uncontrolled breeding of companion animals in Tonga.

What we need help with at this point, is the provision of basic pain relief, mange and flea/worm treatments to take up. We will not be peforming any surgeries, that is not the point of the trip, however, we have a vet with us and want to help where we can. By simply providing relief from irritating and sometimes debilitating skin diseases, we can make all the difference to the day in the life of a homeless and sick street dog or cat during our Visit.

Can you help by providing us with any of the following products ... if so, we will be grateful and some of the thousands of animals we know are suffering in Tonga from parasites, skin disease and painful ailments will be grateful.

PRODUCT WISH LIST – Tonga Visit, 22nd May to 28th May
Drontal, Milbimax, Frontline, Advantage, Revolution, Advantix
Syringes, 21 gauge needles, Dectomax/Ivermectin, Metacam, Norocarp
Amoxy Clax, Clavulox, Augmentin, Dog Collars

Thanks everyone and we will be keeping you informed of our journey, as it rolls out, over the months ahead.

We have a huge job ahead of us.

Karen