The summer is almost over and schools have re-opened. It's time for us all to start thinking about the many changes we have all had to endure with the Covid-19 pandemic, and what that might mean for our families where a new normal means hybrid or home working, whilst others are beginning to think about settling back into old routines. Either way, we have all been affected by major changes, and hopefully we can all see something positive in this- like having a chance to spend more time with our families.
It's also worth taking a moment to appreciate that our children have had it a little tougher than usual over the summers of 2020 and 2021. The pandemic has meant that they haven't had as much opportunity to socialise with friends and undertake the normal summer social activities.
We would like to take this opportunity to celebrate two young girls- Abigail and Aimee, who went above and beyond to fundraise for BU. For this blog post, Abigail and Aimee share their story of how they raised precious funds for BU, but also they share their journey through the adoption process.
So let's hand over to these two awesome girls!
When our best friend Milly died we looked for another dog so Skye wasn't on her own. BU came to our attention by our friend Anna, who has BU dogs Bran and Akira. Because my mum wasn't on Facebook Anna had been sending mum pictures of BU dogs who were looking for homes.
Anna sent a picture of Zack to my mum when me and my dad were in Poland and mum sent it to my dad. Me and Zuzanna was begging dad to get Zack, he finally gave in and he sorted it out to get Zack. Then Covid hit and the world went crazy, so we had to wait until October 2020.
In the summer of 2020 I had seen some videos on BU and how much dogs and cats were suffering in Serbia. So I asked my dad if I could do a sponsored walk for BU and we did a sponsored walk at Carsington Water. I did this with Skye (non BU dog) and my dad and grandad. I raised just over £250.
Then BU did the fundraiser and me and my sister did a dog hamper and we were very happy of how much money we had raised. The man collected the basket from our home. He was so happy with it he gave BU an extra £10. Then my mum spoke to Jennie (Trustee at BU) and asked if we could do another hamper cos we were so happy with the money we had raised. Jennie kindly organised this. Myself and Aimee went out shopping and picked out the things ourselves, and then sent the pictures to Jennie and she kindly organised it and set it up for us.
Me and Aimee love to do these hampers because we feel like we are helping all dogs and cats in need. It is also something we do together and we use our pocket money to fund this. My mum pays for the postage and packaging. As then all the money is sent to BU. There are so many wonderful BU dogs and cats.
In August 2020 Ragnar came up and we asked for some information about him. Me and Aimee wanted to send some things over for Christmas and Sandra (rescuer) said this was ok. Ever since then we have been sending bits to Sandra as a thank you for rescuing Ragnar.
We saw Peppa up for adoption and my dad said no more dogs. We worked on my dad and in January of 2021 it was agreed that we could have Peppa and we waited for her to travel.
Ragnar was due to travel but it got knocked back because the dogs had to be tested for Brucellosis. My mum spoke to Jennie again and she had offered to organise another hamper and we raised £122. We also organised another hamper due to the puppies that had been found.
We both feel that using our pocket money really helps all the dogs and cats out there.
We wanted to say a big thank you to Jennie for all the help she has given me and Aimee.
THANK YOU!
Update from mum Nichola is that the girls were very patient waiting for Peppa's and Ragnar's arrival. Aimee saved up and bought a harness, collar and a tag prior to Peppa ready for her arrival. Aimee is also hoping to train the dogs and has been using Google translate to work out crucial Serbian words!
Because of Aimee's hard work looking after the dogs and all her fundraising efforts, she was nominated for a School Trust award . The girls are now back at school, although Aimee is still spending lots of time clicker training with Peppa and Ragnar, but they have also been enjoying some chill time, and a bit of creative Lego!
Trustee Jennie has a special message for our BU Heroes!
"Here at BU we are so proud of Abigail and Aimee for thinking about the dogs in Serbia and wanting to do as much as they can to help raise funds for food, medical treatments, tests and to generally keep the animals safe. They are an absolute credit to their lovely parents Nichola and Dean.
From all the trustees, rescuers, doggos and everyone involved with the charity, we thank them both so much for their thoughtfulness and generosity- they really are little superstars!"