In our first year, we’ve surpassed our own expectations for the organisation. When we started last December, we thought we’d be starting very small and perhaps helping rescue just a few rabbits to “”test the water””. We just hadn’t anticipated the level of demand there would be for us.
We very quickly realised that the demand for the service was going to be high, and if we’re honest we struggled at the start of the year, having more rabbits on the list than our network could properly support.
We quickly had to focus our attention on getting additional funds and more volunteers. Almost a year down the line, we’re very proud of what we’ve achieved:
- 10 Volunteer Foster Care Families, dropped from 12 as we lost a couple of our families due to changes in circumstances.
- 72 Rabbits “”rescued”” from previous conditions
- 30 Rabbits rehomed (with 3 reserved for rehoming at time of writing)
- Only 3 Rabbits safely pts or passed away due to health conditions
- 40 Rabbits currently looking for new homes (including those still waiting for a space within our foster care network)
- 6 Major Fundraising & Awareness events within local communities, including an excellent 2-day event at LovePets Scotland in Edinburgh
- £500 grant awarded from Pets At Home’s Support Adoption For Pets
- Additional £2,664 funds raised through various activities (giving us a total of £3,164 funds for our first year!).
- Launched our merchandise and clothing print-wear store at http://store.fairlybelovedrabbitcare.org – 10% of all sales go directly to the rabbits.
- In November 2011, we also achieved Scottish Charity status (Scottish Charity #SC042706), which we are hopeful will open up further opportunities as we move forward.
- We are now on eBay for Charities – give as you buy or sell on eBay.
We also were very active in the RBS CommunityForce competition, where we competed against other local projects and charities for the public’s vote to be in with a chance of winning £6,000 for the charity. Sadly, we just lost out: with a prize offered to the top three projects in each regional area, we believe we came 4th with only about 30 or so votes in it!
All-in-all though, quite a remarkable first year, and we want to thank you for the part you’ve played in our success this year.
2012 promises to offer us many more challenges and blessings as we continue to raise awareness of the organisation, and the terrible situation we have in the West of Scotland when it comes to rabbit welfare awareness.
Help Us Celebrate Our Birthday
You can help us get off to an excellent start to Year 2:
- Donate your money or gifts
- Volunteer as a Foster Carer or Fundraiser
- Buy or Sell on eBay and donate to us