Rescue Open Day 12th May 2012

Captain Corn, raising money for the staffies

You can support me at www.justgiving.com/jonathangittingshsr

Well this is about 90% of what I'll be wearing when I take part in the Bridgnorth 22-mile sponsored walk.

I'll probably get a red cape (to fit the title Captain Corn) and maybe yellow face paint to finish it all off.

Every penny raised will be donated to Happy Staffie Rescue.

Lush event closes - £437.71 raised

Thank you once again to the people at Lush, including store manager Claire for their wonderful support, and to the customers at Merry Hill who together helped raise a total of £437.71 over the two days.

Thank you everyone - thank you Lush

Thank you to all the people who came to see us at Lush Merry Hill today, the first day of a weekend at the store.

(above) Happy Staffie volunteers Sue, Jude and Jim

The people at Lush were so welcoming and providing us with every bit of support you could possibly want. The event was a great success raising £195.10 for staffies in need.

(pictured right Happy Staffie volunteers Sue, Jude and Jim who helped make the day)


We had a steady stream of people coming to visit us, to read about the dogs in our care and those who have been successfully rehomed. And of course, many made donations and purchased raffle tickets.

We look forward to another successful day tomorrow.

Many thanks to Clare and girls at Lush, and to all those who took the time to come and see us and supported us with their kindness and generosity.

You can see more photos here.

Pots for Paws at Lush Store tomorrow and Sunday

Don't forget, if you're about why not pop in and see us at the Lush store in the Merry Hill Shopping Centre, Brierly Hill.

We'll be there tomorrow Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th May, with information about the dogs in our care, how you can help as well a wonderful little raffle with prizes donated by the people at Lush!

4th charity, terms provisionally agreed

We have received an update on our offer of terms for the Shrewsburys shop and I am pleased to report that the landlord has provisionally agreed to those terms. There are a few hurdles still to cross, not least the contract, and a sitting-tenant, but these should hopefully pass easily enough. We will keep you posted.

G'day Simon, and thanks aplenty

Happy Staffie Rescue certainly manages to spread the word, and that word has reached Australia of all places.

I know we receive donations from lots of people from all different walks of life but it was still a little special to be noticed from half a world away.

Many thanks to Simon Snelling, of Queensland, Australia for his donation, thanks that we always extend to all our supporters wherever they live.

Charity fundraising t-shirts on sale NOW for a LIMITED PERIOD

Thanks to Jude Morgan, and the people at 'fourkingace designs' Happy Staffie Rescue has launched the first of a strictly limited edition range of t-shirts.
 
'fourkingace designs' is a new fashion design company who will manufacture the t-shirts for the charity at cost price. All net proceeds from the sale of each t-shirt will go to the charity.

The first design on sale now will be available to order for a strictly limited time. Each t-shirt sold will come an individual note to confirm its number in the limited edition. After the 30 June deadline that design will not be available again.

'fourkingace designs' will then launch the next design in t-shirts, and so we hope it will go on.

Please remember that due to the limited nature, and the funds of the charity, none of the t-shirts will be despatched until the deadline has been reached. Then they will be produced and shipped so that more or less everyone receives them very shortly thereafter.

If you would like to order a t-shirt please visit the online charity shop here. 

Charity Awareness Weekend at Lush, Merry Hill

This Saturday 5th May and Sunday 6th May, Mark will be at the Lush store in the Merry Hill Shopping Centre, Brierley Hill as part of the rescue awareness weekend, the first of two major events of the next two weekends.

He will be in attendance with information about the dogs in our care and what the charity does.

Lush have graciously agreed that all funds raised from the sale of their Charity Pots over the weekend will go to the charity. In additional there will be a raffle with some wonderful prizes donated by Lush.

If you about Merry Hill on Saturday or Sunday why not pop along and show your support.

You can find out more here.

4th charity shop search

Going hand in hand with increasing the number of kennels we use is the need to increase funds and to cover their cost.

Therefore today Mark and I spent several hours in Shrewsbury looking at three properties. Thanks must go to Iain Mills at Towler Shaw Roberts. Iain proved a highly effective and efficient agent in our successful completion of the Bridgnorth shop.

Iain attended with us to look at our first shop, and with a little bit of gentle arm-twisting persuaded us to view a second property. We had been reluctant previously based on what we assumed about the location, and how wrong we were. Iain knew what we needed in terms of space, location and price and came up trumps.

Unfortunately the third property we viewed (not sourced through Towler Shaw Roberts) was not up to the requirements, and in fact was somewhat short of the selling points indicated in its advert.

After viewing the three properties we decided on the second and today we have made a provisional offer for a lease. Now begins a period of negotiations which we hope will move swiftly towards a positive conclusion. More updates will follow here.

Holy Moley! I'm doing the Bridgnorth 22-mile Walk

I'm not normally taken to such sudden decisions, but today after very thought I've decided to undertake the Bridgnorth 22-mile Walk in aid of Happy Staffie Rescue.

Needless to say this level of activity is somewhat beyond my normal capabilities so it really will be a personal challenge, as well as a fundraising challenge to raise as much money as I can for the charity.

http://www.justgiving.com/JonathanGittingsHSR

Forget the Walking Dead - it's the WALKING VEGETABLES!!

Sue and Anthony Pitt, who are co-ordinating our fostering scheme as well as being supporters and fundraisers for some time will be taking part in a 22-mile sponsored walk dressed as vegetables!

The 'parsnip king' and his good lady have a Just Giving page in which donations can be made. All funds raised will go towards the BARK Appeal.

You can find out more by visiting their Just Giving page here.

BARK Appeal welcomes Jude and Jim

The relaunched BARK Appeal welcomes its new fund co-ordinators Jude and Jim who has supported both the Appeal and the charity as a whole for some time already.

Both Jude and Jim and coming to the roles with plenty of ideas and enthusiasm and I will be writing about some of their exciting plans for fundraising in the coming weeks.

Everyone at Happy Staffie Rescue wishes Jude and Jim the best very of luck with their efforts, and we'll support them all the way with their plans to help raise the funds necessary for us to obtain our rescue centre.

Rescue Awareness Weekend at Lush, Merry Hill

We will be holding a Rescue Awareness Weekend at the Lush store in the Merry Hill Shopping Centre over the weekend of May 5th-6th.

Our volunteers will be in attendance to improve awareness of the charity and the dogs in our care as well as trying to help change the misconceptions some people might have about this wonderful breed.

And, the good people at Lush will be donated all the proceeds from the sale of their Charity Pots to the charity.

St George's Day Fun Day - Kidderminster

Our volunteers will be attending the annual St George's Day Fun Day at St. George's Park, Kidderminster. They'll be in attendance with our 'world famous' Lucky Balls tombola, lots of prizes, info on the dogs in our care and much more. Come and support us, and meet some of the team tomorrow.

BARK Appeal relaunch

We will shortly be relaunching our BARK Appeal.

The BARK Appeal will be focusing fundraising towards any level of fundraising that can be offered rather than setting targets for individuals and team. We hope this will enable more people to take part. For information will be made available on our dedicated BARK Appeal web site.

Photographic ID cards to be introduced

We will shortly be introducing photographic identification cards for our volunteers and employees to provide greater reassurance to our supporters and donors and greater confidence to those working for our organisation.

The identification card will include a current colour photograph, the name of the charity, an official telephone number, designated reference number, function of the bear and expiry date.

The card will also help those third parties that we come into contact with, particularly the private boarding kennels who receive volunteers to undertake dog walking duties.

Once the cards have been produced the official website will be updated and all volunteers and employees will be required and expected to wear their identification at all times while on charity business.

Supporters Club newsletter

For the members of our Supporters Club, our latest newsletter is finished and we are just waiting for it to be printed. Once done we will get them in the post to all our members.

Planning for the 4th shop on hold

Our need to open additional charity shops is crucial for our ability to increase the number of dogs in our care, and also in the future enable us to afford the cost of maintaining our own rescue centre.

It has been our intention to open at least one charity shop a year but this year may be different.

Pressing demands to increase welfare spending have seen the charity now use up the funds it had set aside to open a fourth charity shop and it would appear that with our expanding of the number of kennel spaces we use (and the related cost) we will not be able to build up a fund to do this at this time.

This is very disappointing in one sense, because it means we cannot increase our fundraising - and therefore increase the number of dogs in our care. However it does mean that we are using all the funds we have had to care for as many dogs as we can.

Charity welcomes Budget's Gift Aid Small Donation Scheme

We welcome the Government's plan to introduce a new Gift Aid Small Donation Scheme.

This will particularly benefit us smaller charities that have to currently maintain quite detailed (and what some might consider intrusive) records of its donors in order to be able make a claim for Gift Aid.

The guidance as it currently appears in consultation form appears to be quite strict, but could allow us to reclaim up to £1,250 in Gift Aid on small cash donations up to £5,000.