Nandi News - January 2025
Happy new year to all our volunteers, donors, members, partners and customers!
Thank you to all of you who have given your time, effort and money to help improve the lives of sick and abandoned animals in the Algarve.
2024 was a challenging year with the ever increasing demand on Nandi resources to meet, or at least help with, the requests from our partner sanctuaries and charities, vet fees and cat feeding.
As well as keeping a watchful eye on the finances and making additional efforts to raise funds for treatments, we have been working hard on developing the business side of the charity, raising our profile with the community, developing a better social media presence and making our systems far more efficient - all to ensure that at least 75% of our income is spent on the animal help.
We did it - just - but could not have if it were not for the management team and other volunteers standing up to the task and giving many hours extra to put in place these improvements. Particular thanks to all those on the management team who have worked so hard this year to make it happen.
Looking forward: the Annual General Meeting 2025
The Nandi AGM is the time when the Management Committee have a chance to inform all volunteers, donors and members about the progress made through the previous year and to showcase how the funds we have raised have been used…. as well as electing new officers.
All are welcome, refreshments provided - voting restricted to members and volunteers only.
If you are neither volunteer nor member but would like to attend, please email us at events@nandicharity.com so we can accommodate numbers.
What we spent on partner sanctuaries/animal charities
December, as the last month in the year, is the time when we allocate any additional funds we have accrued to the partners/charities most in need. In December we gave an extra 5k to Cadela Carlota to help in the fund raising for new accommodation for their cats as they are being forced to move from their present location, another 9k went to others in particular distress. This is in addition to the normal monthly payments of circa 4200 euros to our partners sanctuaries/animal charities.
We receive tearful phone calls and emotional emails when our sanctuary managers are overwhelmed, sometimes about mounting vet fees, other times about large influxes of abandoned kittens and puppies and not enough accommodation, and others about sick or neglected pets. When Nandi can come to the rescue and then we receive many heartfelt and emotional thanks, it makes our hard work all worthwhile.
Helping animals of the Algarve is what we do; it is what we are here for - the animals cannot look after themselves.
Just some of the thanks received from our partner sanctuaries and charities:
We are very grateful for the extra Christmas donation! We had a lot of extra costs recently because of sick and injured dogs and donkeys, so that really helps.
Thank you so much for your regular monthly donation and the additional monies in December in support of our work with all the sterilisations. We really do appreciate every donation received and could not carry on our work without the support of people like you.
We were over the moon. Thank you, from all of us 🐾🎄🙏
Thank you so much Helen and all of Nandi, it is very much appreciated.
THANK YOU !!!!! For all you do !! ♥️♥️♥️♥️🐶
Once again thank you verry much for your support and help which is so helpful for us.
A thousand thank yous and I wish you a wonderful New year and THANK YOU from the heart for your ongoing help which means so much to us♥️
Thank you so much. We literally could not survive without you – Nandi keeps us going.
What we spent in December in vet fees
In 2024 we really wanted to increase the number of sterilisations we funded as it was the worst year so far for abandoned kittens and puppies. It has been so encouraging to see that number increase substantially. Well done, Sandra, Annette and the Vet Liaison Team!
Sandra Thompson, Head of Animal Help, writes:
In the month of December 2024, Nandi received a total of 110 applications, 67 from owners and 20 from partner animal charities/cat colonies. 3 applications in December 2024 were declined, 2 for vaccinations and 1 for a dental claim.
Nandi´s estimated spend for December 2024 is 9242.53€ and the estimated spend for November 2024 was 11,098.44€
The invoiced spend for November 2024 was 8945.67€ (6901.88€ November 2023) out of which 5792.14€ was spent on sterilisations.
Breakdown of figures left, December 2023 figures in brackets.
Focus on our partner charities: Mayday
Pat Banks writes:
Imagine you find a mother dog or cat with her babies, cold, hungry and shivering with fear in the bushes. Your heart goes out to them, but you can't take them home. So what do you do? You need to call for help and this is where our animal sanctuaries step in. They can provide the day in day out care, food, warm beds and the love that these animals need until one day, hopefully, they are found their forever homes.
One of the sanctuaries in the Algarve that Nandi supports does all of that and shelters up to 100 animals and birds on a daily basis in private woodland near Vila do Bispo. Aptly named Mayday, the aim of the charity is to help as many animals as they are able to, no matter if they are sick, old or disabled. Although mainly a dog refuge, the founder Karen Breen can't turn her back on any animal in need, hence the cats and the birds. Most of the cats she rescues are feral but some get used to people over time and a few have been rehomed. Those that are are not have their own garden, as well as an inside lounge and bedroom. The birds have a large aviary with both inside and outside areas where they can fly around or rest. When a bird that has no matching species is brought to the shelter, Karen purchases one to keep it company.
Karen Breen and her husband opened up their home, created the refuge and started taking in abandoned animals in 2010 from the streets, fields and a local municipal kennel to keep them safe. In 2016, Karen decided to set up a charity to help the animals in their care and this became legal in March 2018.
Since then, the charity has rehomed almost 1,500 dogs. Karen says this has only been possible because of the continuing support from Nandi and her wonderful team of long and short term volunteers and dog walkers. Karen is pictured right with her long term volunteer, Ruth.
“Nandi’s help is invaluable to us for food bills and vet treatments, including sterilisations. Nandi has helped us buy new fencing, which, along with new roofing, is an ongoing expenditure. As Mayday receives no government funding we rely solely on donations to survive and are immensely grateful to Nandi for the ongoing help and financial support”.
Below with photos are some of Mayday's success stories.
For more information: www.maydayalgarve.com
Buddy was left by his Algarve family when they moved back to the UK.
He was eight years old and found being in the shelter with other dogs very hard.
He lived alone but happily for him he was adopted by a dog walker and now lives with his new family in Germany.
Janey was found in a garden near the Mayday shelter.
She loves people and was obviously used to being cuddled and cared for. But despite an extensive search her owners were not found.
Fortunately for Janey she went for adoption and is now living in her forever home.
Left picture:
Some of the Mayday cats in their special lounge. Who said it’s a dog´s life?
Right picture:
Vanity was found on the streets in Sagres. She is a quiet and gentle cat who just wants to beloved. She is currently up for adoption.
Christmas at Nandi
Pat Banks writes:
Nandi volunteers are known for their hard work. They keep our two shops open six days of the week through most of the year. But they also like to have fun with family and friends and what better time to party but at Christmas?
Volunteers from the clothes and furniture shops were joined by our Animal Help and Furniture Delivery teams on December 20 for an afternoon of fun and getting to know each other better.
Most of the food and drinks were supplied by Nandi but some volunteers bought their own speciality Christmas fare for others to sample, including mince pies, mulled wine and Russian scones. Thanks to Bev, our Vice President, for organising the event for the volunteers.
Nandi Charity New Year Walks - come and join us!
Maria and Christel, our wonderful cat feeders in Vila do Bispo, organised a new year walk from Sitio das Fontes to Silves to raise funds for Nandi.
A great group of people gathered in the morning - we walked, we chatted, we laughed and our dogs came with us. At Silves, Maria and Christel had organised a fabulous piri piri chicken lunch in a Portuguese restaurant (fish and veggie options also available!) and the lovely, friendly buzz in the atmosphere continued throughout the lunch.
Maria and Christel presented Helen, on behalf of Nandi, with 280 euros collected from the walks (of course, we all paid for our lunch ourselves!) and made our way back to the start.
What a fab day! New friends, new connections and new contacts for Nandi. Why not join us on 17th January?
They take place, weather permitting, one the first and third Fridays of the month.
For more information and to book your place on the next walk you can:
WhatsAppp Maria on: +49 17638956448
Or visit the website: https://sites.google.com/view/charity-walks.
Georgina, a very special customer!
We often highlight our volunteers but this month Trish Hughes, one of our clothes shop team leaders, wanted to focus on a very special, loyal customer…and one of our oldest.
Trish writes: Georgina Mc Donald comes into the Nandi shop every Wednesday and returns six books and buys six more. Every week she reads the 6 books.
Georgina was born in Scotland in 1931 and came to live in Lagos when she retired in 1990.
She had worked at IBM for many years and also at Rolls Royce.
As a youngster she loved to play tennis and loved driving.
When she is not reading she enjoys cooking.
Thank you for being such a special customer, Georgina!
January 2025 Newsletter
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