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Nandi News - July 2024
Welcome to the July 2024 edition from the President!
Have you noticed how much Nandi has changed in the last couple of years? Just to recap - revamped homeware and furniture shop, new clothes shop (just next door - how convenient is that, one venue for all .your shopping needs from clothes, books, children´s toys, sofas, beds, tablecloths, duvets and bric a brac?!)
We now have new, eye catching branding on our shops and van, a new website, a dedicated email domain and a more consistent approach to our image. IT consultant Steven Dunwell has worked closely with us - more on him later.
Our wonderful volunteer base has expanded so that we now have over 15 different nationalities working with us, giving us all a chance to learn from other cultures and integrate more into our Portuguese community. We have particularly worked on developing a supportive hub for our volunteers who, through Nandi, have made lifelong friends, expanded their social lives and at the same time fulfilled the rewarding role of raising funds for the care of the Algarve´s sick and abandoned animals.
This is the first of what will be our regular monthly newsletters bringing you news of what we are doing and how your donations and our sales income are being spent. Please remember that none of us take a salary but I have a dedicated management team who have worked tirelessly over the last couple of years to double the number of animal sanctuaries that we support, to provide food for more than double the number of cats, day in day out throughout the year. The current number stands at 460!
And then of course, we have provided record amounts in funds, circa 100k euros, to support a wider number of animal sanctuaries throughout the Algarve. In each newsletter, from next month, we intend to focus on one of our sanctuaries, highlighting the fantastic work they do in caring for abandoned animals. This makes all of our efforts worthwhile.
Of course, we cannot forget the work of our animal help team through which we spent 100k on vet fees to care for those sick and injured animals who cannot care for themselves. Each month we will focus on our animal help activity.
First of all, I´d like to introduce the Nandi Management team who give up their free time for the animal cause:
Meet the Management Team
President - Helen Mattacott
Vice President - Beverley Ellison
Vice President - Beverley Ellison
Overall responsibility for the charity management, development and marketing
Overall responsibility for legal and financial issues
Vice President - Beverley Ellison
Vice President - Beverley Ellison
Vice President - Beverley Ellison
Overarching responsibility for furniture and clothes shop
Standing in for President in President´s absence
Staff Training co-ordination.
Treasurer - Stuart Nelson
Vice President - Beverley Ellison
Treasurer - Stuart Nelson
Financial accounting and management reporting on finance
Banking
Company and volunteer expenses
Secretary - John Worman
Vogul & Vet Liaison - Annette Brown
Treasurer - Stuart Nelson
Administrative duties for the management team and the membership
Responsible for general email management
Premises management
Cash register maintenance
Van servicing
Vogul & Vet Liaison - Annette Brown
Vogul & Vet Liaison - Annette Brown
Vogul & Vet Liaison - Annette Brown
Training of colleagues in vet liaison
Liaison with vets and sanctuaries to provide emergency help for sick and injured animals, microchipping and sterilisation.
Keeping up to date on animal welfare/ownership law in Portugal
Monitoring Facebook and other groups for opportunities for Nandi to provide animal help
Vogul - Lily Higham
Vogul & Vet Liaison - Annette Brown
Vogul & Vet Liaison - Annette Brown
Assisting on clothes shop management
Assisting the President in staff grievance/welfare issues
Vogul & Clothes Shop Co-ordinators - Lyn Davies
Vogul & Clothes Shop Co-ordinators - Marsha Popretinskaya
Vogul & Clothes Shop Co-ordinators - Marsha Popretinskaya
Day-day running of clothes shop
Shift Management (clothes)
Vogul & Clothes Shop Co-ordinators - Marsha Popretinskaya
Vogul & Clothes Shop Co-ordinators - Marsha Popretinskaya
Vogul & Clothes Shop Co-ordinators - Marsha Popretinskaya
Day to day running clothes shop
Staff Vouchers
Vogul (PR both internal and external) - Pat Banks
Vogul & Clothes Shop Co-ordinators - Marsha Popretinskaya
Vogul (PR both internal and external) - Pat Banks
AGM Chair
Nandi external/internal events
Profile raising - social media, press
Furniture Shop (Shift Management and coordination of team meetings in absence of Vice President).
News from our Animal Help Team
Nandi’s May Sterilisation Campaign, targeting the Lagos area, resulted in 34 dogs and 25 cats being sterilised. A disappointing figure for all of us. Nevertheless, it brings the total number of dogs and cats sterilised with Nandi’s help from January to the end of May to almost 700. In addition, a further 219 cats and dogs in need of vet assistance received treatments during the same period.
We are reviewing the Campaign and planning to work with our vet partners to carry out a second phase at the end of the summer. If you know of pet owners in our communities who do not have the financial means to pay for sterilisation and still have unsterilised animals, please let them know about Nandi.
Despite major strides, stray and abandoned animals continue to pose a huge problem throughout Portugal. This year in particular has seen an alarming rise in the number of newborn kittens and puppies dumped by the side of roads and in lixu bins. Several animal charities, including Nandi, have stressed the urgency of sterilisation. The figures speak for themselves, a single unspayed female dog and her off spring can produce 67,000 puppies in six years. In seven years, a single cat and her offspring can increase the cat population by 370,000.
Event News
Our internal PR Co-ordinator, Pat Banks writes: A sign in a UK Charity shop reads:
“Our staff are not paid. They work for nothing. But that doesn’t mean they are worthless, it makes them priceless”.
That certainly applies to the Nandi volunteers who keep our two shops open six days a week through most of the year, come rain or shine. Their hard work enables us to raise funds to help the many thousands of sick and abandoned animals in the Western Algarve. And to sterilise those forced to live on the streets. The last six months have been especially busy and to thank them for handling the extra workload, Nandi Management organised a get-together for them at the Waterfront bar and bistro in the Lagos Marina.
Helen Mattacott, Nandi’s President, raised a toast to all of our volunteers and told them that as a result of their work - and the many Nandi supporters who donate goods and clothes or buy from our shops - Nandi has been able to increase its funding support significantly in 2024. Some of this increased support is highlighted elsewhere in this newsletter.
As you can see from the photographs and the happy faces, the sun shone, the food was excellent and it was a lot if fun. It also enabled old and new volunteers to meet people who work outside their own shifts and hopefully develop even more friendships.
Nandi currently has 82 active volunteers coming from all over the globe. But many of them are not here on a permanent basis and others go back to their home countries frequently to visit family and friends.
Hurray for Lagos Bombeiros!
A story to remind you all that our funds go to various causes. For the last two years we have given donations to the Bombeiros for animal rescue. Our volunteer, Eileen in the furniture shop, had friends staying last week. Unfortunately the friends´ black labrador decided to go for a swim in the lake and an hour later was yelping, tired and unable to get out.
The Lagos Bombeiros came to his rescue and Flynn was restored to his soft bed. (The firemen and Flynn are spots in the photo, but I can assure you they are there!) Thank goodness for our amazing partners, the Lagos Bombeiros!
Volunteers Wanted
Summertime is particularly difficult, and we are in urgent need of more volunteers to help run our shops. If you have a friend who can spare a few hours a week, please let us know by dropping into one of our shops and talking to our volunteers who will be delighted to meet you and them. This is especially the case for our collection and delivery services.
Without more volunteers, both services may have to be reduced significantly.
Click on the link below to take you to our volunteer page where you can download the membership form.
Meet our IT Consultant - Steven Dunwell
We at Nandi have been very fortunate in finding Steven. He has helped us enormously, building our website, managing our tech for the new office and generally being a very nice chap to have around. Thank you, Steven for being such a good friend to Nandi!
He can be contact on:
+351 936 387 512
October 2024 Newsletter
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