We have decided to withdraw from the Holly Hedge (Unity) Lottery which will finish on the 10th September 2018.
Thank you to everyone who has helped us by subscribing to the lottery.
Your membership will continue until then, when it will be automatically cancelled.
If you have any remaining credit you will remain in the draw until it runs out.
I am writing to you as someone who shares our love and passion for animals, and it is with a heavy heart that I have to break the news that Holly Hedge is facing its greatest challenge.
Over time, costs have escalated to over £650,000 a year to keep the Sanctuary running to a high standard and to give our rescues the best possible chance of a new beginning and a happy ever after, but we have been constantly using our reserves to help fund the gap by contributing towards vets bills and running costs as donations and legacies have reduced.
Unless we are able to raise at least another £300,000 each year, we may not be able to continue to help nearly as many desperate and needy cases. Our depleting reserves are largely due to building the new kennels which were so urgently needed, as the existing ones were dilapidated, crumbling and prone to flooding. The dogs are so much happier in their new surroundings and far less stressed, so a great result achieved – but at a huge cost.
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Vet bills have risen considerably and reached a staggering £100,000 in the last financial year, as no animal is denied the veterinary help they need to enjoy the best quality of life. We have followed our hearts and carried out our solemn promise to do everything in our power to make our rescues pain free and whole again.
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We struggle financially to keep up with the insurmountable numbers coming to us in urgent need of veterinary treatment. Some poor souls have stoically endured excruciating pain straying for years before coming to Holly Hedge, and the difference made to their lives once treatment has been given is worth any amount of money. Many have needed expensive operations to give them a new lease of life, others have been in road accidents with no owner coming forward, or found emaciated, dehydrated and taken straight to the vet, often out of hours. If vital treatment hadn’t been carried out, some would almost certainly have perished. We cannot harden our hearts and refuse sick, elderly or injured and abandoned animals. Although we cannot save them all, which is heart breaking, we put our heart and soul into ensuring all of our rescues have a happy ending – which is our legacy of love.
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At Holly Hedge they are given love, kindness, every home comfort possible and shown that people can be caring and trusted. It is so heart-warming when their faith is restored and they are ready to face the world again in a loving new home.
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Holly Hedge finds homes for up to 800 rescues a year, and the joy of seeing them go off to a new beginning is what keeps us all going and, at its heart, is what the Charity is all about.
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Our staff and volunteers are second to none and give all our rescues love in abundance as well as plenty of enrichment to help them cope in a kennel/cattery situation. Their devotion and dedication knows no bounds and the animals always come first.
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We have plans in place to sustain the future of Holly Hedge and through kind friends have bought the field next to the Sanctuary, which will generate income and enable us to apply for bio-diversity grants and protect dwindling and threatened wildlife. There are cost cutting measures in place, as well as income generating strategies, but this will take time to implement and right now we are on a mission of survival and we so desperately need your help to overcome the challenges that inevitably lie ahead.
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Holly Hedge exists purely to help animals in need and strives to give them all a much brighter and happier future. They come to us with broken hearts, broken limbs and broken spirits, but with your support we can continue to put them back together again.
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Please, help us to help those who cannot speak for themselves. There is nowhere more totally committed and dedicated to making a better life for all our animals than Holly Hedge. Our rescues mean the world to us, but we cannot exist on love for them alone.
Please make a donation today to save our Sanctuary, whatever you can afford would be greatly appreciated and could help us to save a life.
