Rescued With Love Inc.

As part of our ongoing Community Service, Rescued With Love participated in the 13th Pet Expo organized by Nillumbik Council.

Our stall was very successful with alot of the public fascinated with what we did, and became a serious educational tool for those who had never heard of rescue in the true sense.

Thankyou to Nillumbik Shire Council for the outstanding effort, their commitment to companion animals and showing the responsibility towards how we should love and care for all animals.

Here are some photos from the day.

Our girl Jessie, fostered by Holly.

Ex RWL girl Kelty came to say hello!

    

Plum came in her RWL coat and Sparkles was adopted by her new family!

Fred and Helen Brocker came with Molly and Daisy (pictured) and a camera shy Mr. Benny!

 

You would all remember little Dante, and of course our little Daisy girl too!

  

And our gorgous Molly

 

And Dante, kidnapped by yours truly, chatting with Peter, one of the Nillumbik Councillors who was very interested in what we do as a community service.

 

In May we were contacted by Jenni and Narelle who run PARC (Prevention and Recovery Care Programme) in South Yarra.  They were intersted to see if they could adopt one of our dogs as a pet come therapy dog.

At our meeting we realized that it was indeed something that could work for both parties, the residents and staff at PARC would benefit from having a lovely dog to nurture, and we would find a home for a dog who was rescued from the pound.

Making sure we had all details sorted, and realizing we were all on the same page with what we were expecting and trying to achieve we suggested little Jojo who is a lovely Shih Tzu X maltese boy, who loves people and company, which he would have 24 hours a day at PARC.  He is a calm and happy little dog, who would cope well with the residents and they with him.

It was a match on both sides, apart from one thing.  Fencing.  And so we decided to take up the challenge.  I rang a couple of our foster carers who were eager to help.  Within an hour we had Simone and Steve on board, Steve being a Landscape Gardener had all the qualifications we needed to continue on and find someone to fund our project.

Phil and Trix Wollen at The Kindness Trust (www.kindnesstrust.com) were more than happy to come on board and donate the finances for our project.  When I mentioned what we were doing to our local vet and supporter of RWL, they rose to the challenge too, offering extremely generous terms for Jojo for the rest of his life, along with a free groom, flea treatment and worm treatment just for starters.

It has actually snowballed another project which we are currently starting with the Village Vet, and are thrilled about...The Rescued With Love/Village Vet Discount Card (more in the Dog Diary).

Zoo Products in Malvern (a fantastic shop, who sell all lovely pet products, but no live animals) also jumped at the chance offering free food on an ongoing basis for Jojo. 

How lucky were we?

So we had volunteers, funding and gifts, all for the reason of finding a dear little dog a home.  Jojo, it seemed was going to cared for and looked after by the whole of Stonnington Council!

Jojo meanwhile is still in foster care with Holly and her family, until we could get everything in place.  A day was chosen.  The 31st of May.

With everything in place, Steve, Simone and I met at Taits Timber at 8.30 am and purchased all of our products for the fence, then we headed off to PARC where others arrived while we were unloading the trucks and cars.  The weather was superb and at 10.00am we were ready to roll.

Tracey enlisted the help of her husband and together Larry and Steve set about putting up the fence in the first spot.  The rest of us started to clear away dirt and mulched the new garden bed, and helped where we could.

Here is Pam preparing the ground for the pavers.

 

 

Simone and Tracey mulching.  

Things went along great and we had a break for lunch, sandwiches, fruit, dips and cold drinks were provided by RWL and there wasn't much left after the physical exertion of the morning, but we still had some serious work to get through.

Breaking for lunch at PARC

Just after lunch Steve and Larry were going great guns with the fence.

And finally, after a load of hard work and co ordination, the first part of the fence was up! 

Kae, Steve, Larry and Simone, all standing outside the new fence!

The pressure was on to do the next couple of fences on the property and get the paving done for Jenni and Narelle while we had the 'people power'.

So Steve and Larry continued on with the fence building and we got stuck into the paving......

 

As you can see it was a joint effort, like a conga line with the girls.  Steve gave us a start on how to lay the pavers and went back to the fence. 

Steve and Larry were about to drill into the concrete for the second post and Steve asked offered the chance to have a go with the jackhammer.  It was an opportunity too good to refuse.

So with glasses on and a steady hand, the concrete was broken up and the next post put in.

 

We agreed at the end of the day to meet at one of the local pubs and catch up with a few more RWL volunteers who came along for a chat and a drink.  It was dark by the time the boys finished the last fence, all in all about 10 volunteers came along for the day and it was a rewarding experience for all of us.

We worked side by side with the Staff from PARC, some of the residents came and helped and joined in, everyone who came later enjoyed themselves immensely and we were all shouted a drink by the PARC Manager Jenni, who was still putting plants in when we left.

Our first community project left us feeling that we had achieved alot.  And our main objective being Jojo gets a lovely home, that being the key to the entire day. 

RWL would like to thank all the volunteers who made it such a great and fun day.  Thankyou to PARC for your help and to the Kindness Trust for your financial support, the Village Vet and Zoo products for your generosity and spirit.  We were proud to be a part of it.

(an update on Jojo arriving at PARC will come as soon as possible.)