Saint Lucia: HelpAWS shares experience as animal rescue organisation

Castries, Saint Lucia: The animal shelter, HelpAWS, shared their experience as an organisation which has been trying to save the little pups of the country. It stated that there isn’t a slow season in animal rescue, and it is neither a 9 to 5 job nor the places aren’t close on weekends or holidays. While businesses can plan for high or low volume, NGOs are always at the mercy of animals in need and always operating full steam ahead.

“What we do experience is traditionally slow months as far as donations coming in. We get it – the holidays can stretch everyone’s budget, especially if your workplace shuts down in observance of the season,” it stated through a social media post.

While sharing the experience, they added that it costs tens of thousands of dollars weekly to run the shelter: vet bills, food, utility bills, vehicle costs, staff, cleaning supplies, and the list goes on. This doesn’t include the high cost of cargo flights to get adopted pups off the island or the cost to continue providing care to the special needs animals yet to be adopted. Adoption fees don’t begin to cover what’s spent from the time the animal comes into care to the time they arrive at its forever home. “Yet, we can’t ask for a higher adoption fee because we already struggle to find adopters for the animals we bring in,” it added.

HelpAWS further stated that it’s a constant conundrum. How do the organisation continue to function without the necessary funds to do so? And even though volunteers struggle to figure out how to keep the doors open, the people working are so appreciative of every penny generous supporters send our way, and the shelter never wants to sound ungrateful. It mentioned, “We stretch it as much as possible and try to accomplish the most out of every dime. At the same time, donations have been REALLY low these past few months, so we find ourselves in a sticky situation of constantly asking for more.”

In addition to this, the organisation said, “Someone recently told us they gave up their daily Starbucks run and, instead, set up a monthly recurring donation to HelpAWS. That $6 or $8 a day now equates to a generous donation to help save lives each month. Some recurring donations are just $5 a month, but that $5 buys much-needed medicine for an animal that comes to us in dire need.”

Moreover, it stated, “We know we ask a lot, but if you have areas of your daily life where you could “trim the fat” and instead set up an automatic recurring donation to HelpAWS, we would be forever grateful! If so, consider visiting www.helpaws.com/donate to create your monthly donation now.”