Bellafides Private School hosted a fundraising dog walk event on October 8 to assist Tessa Van Heerden who runs The Furry Godmother Township and Squattercamp Outreach.
Van Heerden provides support to thousands of animals in impoverished township communities around East London.
“I’ve been doing this for over 15 years and it gets tough at times because of things like finance and a lack of education about how to properly care for animals. I go to areas like Nompumelelo, Ducats and other impoverished communities around East London,” said Van Heerden.
She provides a feeding programme for cats and dogs, sterilizations, as well as medical care for animals with injuries, burns, or skin diseases.
Though her outreach work relies on Facebook donations, Van Heerden often has to dig into her own pocket as well.
Clarissa Masola, of Bellafides Private School, said the school often got involved with fundraising projects in the community.
“We try to find ways to help from time to time and this time we decided to help our Furry Godmother to assist her financially in the work she does.
“The dog walk was a great success and we managed to raise R13,500, all of which will go towards buying food for the animals and making sure she is able to continue doing the work she does,” said Masola.
Van Heerden said despite the financial challenges she faced, her passion for animals motivated her to continue with her efforts.
“One of the biggest issues that lead to these animals being mistreated is a lack of education. People are not always aware of what they need to do. It’s difficult to turn away when you know how bad things are. There are roughly 1,000 dogs that need help in Nompumelelo alone,” she said.
The funds raised from the dog walk will go towards pet food and medical supplies.
