By CAITLYN HILLIARD-LOMAS
Many dogs and cats will be living in shelters and foster homes this Christmas. A few Christmases ago, some of them might have been puppies or kittens popping out of wrapped boxes. But, this Christmas, there will be no tinsel, no extra treats and cuddles, and they won’t be dressed up in bright red jerseys.
The Santa Cause for Paws Foundation acknowledges all these shelter animals and focuses on a Christmas Drive box campaign for dogs, cats and other animals in need.
Run by part-time volunteers, the organization relies solely on donations from the public. It was started in October of 2013 by Claudia Ferreira, who now runs the programme from Australia.
“We are committed to collecting and distributing Christmas packs made by the public to various animal shelters,” says volunteer Sashay Bates from the Eastern Cape division.
The aim was to spread love and make Christmas a little more special for animals living in shelters by giving them treats they usually would not get. By 2015, Santa Cause for Paws entered Makhanda.
The beneficiaries for 2021 are the Makhanda SPCA and the Grahamstown Feral Cat project. They accept donations for the campaign throughout the year, even over Christmas.
Pledging opened on the 1st of October. It closes at the end of November.
Two Easy steps to support the initiative:
- You have the option to sponsor a specific animal on the Santa Cause for Paws Facebook page. You can also check out the Grahamstown SPCA and Grahamstown Feral Cat albums to support the animals. The volunteers will use these funds to shop and pack a gift for those animals. The name of the animal you will be sponsoring will be written on the tag.
- Go onto the Santa Paws website and pledge boxes in the following categories:
- Adult dog
- Puppy
- Adult cat
- Kitten
You can either shop for your own box, or they will shop and pack a box for you. If you are packing your own box and have completed this, the drop-off venues are:
Hoof and Hound, Peppergrove Mall
East Cape Pets and Pools, Hill Street
What goes into the box?
- Two things yum – food (dry dog/cat food or canned dog/cat food) and a treat (for example, catnip, biscuits)
- Something warm (blanket/bed)
- Something useful (food bowl, collar, conditioning tablets)
- Something fun (a toy)
