Alocal charity is grateful for the Limestone Coast community’s ongoing support and generosity.
The South East Animal Welfare League (SEAWL) recently had its septic emptied tank free of charge by Liquid Waste Wizard and rusty septic tank cover and checkerplate lid replaced by Sims Engineering and Infrabuild Steel Centre Mount Gambier.
South East Animal Welfare League shelter manager Marica “Ritzy” Perkovic said the alarm was sounded by the Mount Gambier and District Ratepayers Association who took to social media to ask the community for donations on the shelter’s behalf.
“The Mount Gambier and District Ratepayers Association put out a call out on Facebook to see if anybody would donate towards the fees and then thankfully for us, Sims Engineering said they would be able to make up a checkerplate and fit it for us and donate it and they enlisted the help of another business as well,” she said.
“That happened really quickly so we were really lucky and then they both turned up the next morning.
“We do use that yard for a dog park. If we did not have it (a new checkerplate) we would have to corner it off so then we would have had to put that out of use which means we are one dog yard down as it is a safety hazard.”
SEAWL relies entirely on community donations to operate the shelter since the Mount Gambier City Council and Grant District Council ended their tripartite agreement with the organisation in July last year.“Since all that, the community have upped the ante with support,” Ms Perkovic said.
“The shelter last year was $200,000 just to run and that’s our operating costs. It’s probably going to be higher this year because of the cost of living.
“All our financial costs are covered by donations from the community whether that is fundraising, gifts or tax deductible donations.
“We receive no government grants, we are not eligible for a lot that are provided so we do not get any government funding and everything here is funded by the generosity of the community.
“The community has been really great. Social media has been powerful and we get so many shares and we have so many new followers especially in the younger community.”
Ms Perkovic said volunteer numbers have increased to a full roster of 40 people.
“Before we struggled for volunteers and now everyone is being so great,” she said.
“We have had an increase in volunteers so again if you cannot donate or adopt, then volunteer. At the moment we have a full roster of volunteers.
“You can either come in once a week, once a fortnight or once a month, we are happy with whatever you can offer and that is general socialisation, housekeeping, walking etc.”
Ms Perkovic said the support has been far reaching from the Limestone Coast community including Naracoorte and beyond.
“The community of Naracoorte have become our greatest donators of cat and dog food organised by a lady who has organised five or six business drop points and they physically bring the food donations to us because it is not viable to us to send a volunteer to collect,” she said.
“The Naracoorte community and the local community here as well are constantly bringing in cat donations – towers, bedding, accessories and dog food does get dropped directly out to us.
“There are people that will ring up from Adelaide and offer to pay it forward for dogs that have been here for a while.
“Cat adoptions are high and dog adoptions are starting to pick up now. We still have a waiting list (for dogs) so surrenders are still high and the waiting list is still moving so there is still a high demand for surrenders.”
