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A generous The Herald reader paid it forward for the region’s furry friends recently by giving the Uitenhage SPCA half a million rand.
Though the animal welfare organisation is only in its fifth week of fundraising to save itself and the animals it houses, Nelson Mandela Bay residents have already boosted the morale of its staff by raising R1,641,938.
With a final goal of R2.7m, the SPCA has raised 61% of the funds needed to purchase a permanent new home.
The Nelson Mandela Bay municipality gave the SPCA notice on January 20 that it had to vacate the premises in Kariega from which it had been operating since 1959.
Uitenhage SPCA chair Deirdre Swift said the organisation’s staff were blown away by the support from the Nelson Mandela Bay community.
“We are just so grateful for all the support from our community.
“So many people have started their own fundraisers or dug deep into their pockets to help us.
“Businesses have helped in a huge way too.”
According to Swift, the anonymous donor is an elderly Gqeberha resident who is an avid reader of The Herald and an animal lover.
“Luckily, I was sitting down when I got the phone call from a wealth management organisation telling me that their client wanted to donate half a million rand.”
Swift said at first she thought it must have been a joke.
“I couldn’t believe it,” she said.
“The broker told me that the anonymous donor had been following our story in The Herald and wanted to help save the SPCA.
“We were privileged to meet her this week at the SPCA, and we spent two hours with her talking about how the SPCA operates and our history, and we took her on a tour of the current facility.
“Her generosity left us speechless.
“The fact that she had such an interest and such a passion for animals, it felt like she was on the same page as us at the SPCA when it comes to animal welfare.”
Swift said it was important to recognise the anonymous donor’s compassion and support.
“It doesn’t just provide an immediate lifeline for us right now; it ensures a lifeline for many animals for years to come.
“This donation ensures that thousands of animals will be looked after.”
Swift said the SPCA was still on the municipal premises and that its operations continued from small temporary containers.
“We want to thank everybody that has stood behind us.
“Some people can give more than others, but we have even had people telling us that they had donated their grocery money for the week to the SPCA.
“We have got so many people doing so many fundraisers for us that it is becoming hard to track all of it, but people have been phenomenal, the support has been phenomenal.
“We are deeply grateful for all of this.
“We would never ever have been able to raise this money ourselves during this time — there is just too much work to do in this situation that the SPCA is in right now.”
The Uitenhage SPCA still needs to raise R1m before it can purchase the new premises and fundraising efforts are continuing.
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