Shared love of animals sparks partnership between Newcastle Dog and Cat Shelter and Blyth Star Enterprises
A shared love of animals has sparked a new working relationship between two leading North East charities.
Newcastle Dog & Cat Shelter has teamed up with Northumberland-based Blyth Star Enterprises, which supports individuals with complex mental health needs and learning disabilities, in a partnership aimed at providing mutual charitable support and learning opportunities.
The partnership began after a member of staff from Blyth Star introduced their team to our Community Engagement Team, enquiring about opportunities to work together.
After learning more about Blyth Star’s mission and the work they do to offer living skills training and enrichment experiences to people with lifelong mental health needs and disabilities, we were pleased to arrange a visit to their adult social care day service at The Steamboat in Blyth. We brought along one of our dogs, Lola, to meet the service users and spoke about the work we do to rehabilitate and rehome animals in need.
Carol Boyd, The Steamboat Day Services Manager at Blyth Star Enterprises, said:
“Our service users absolutely adore animals, lots of them have pets of their own at home, so we had been looking to find an organisation who we could partner up with to provide some education and support to our service users on topics like animal care. When the opportunity came along to meet with the Newcastle Dog & Cat Shelter, as a fellow charity, it just made perfect sense.
“It was wonderful to welcome Jack from Newcastle Dog & Cat Shelter along with the lovely Lola, one of the dogs from the Shelter, into The Steamboat. Everyone was very smitten with Lola and absolutely blown away by the incredible work that the Shelter does to promote animal welfare. We’re hoping to make a reciprocal visit to the Shelter at Benton North Farm very soon.”
To say thank you for the visit, service users at The Steamboat carried out a series of fundraising activities. By selling handmade crafts and collecting donations through an ‘honesty box’ for clothing alterations, they raised an incredible £110.00, which they donated to us during our visit.
Jack Brydon, Community Engagement Officer at Newcastle Dog & Cat Shelter, added:
“It was an absolute pleasure to visit The Steamboat and see first-hand the amazing work Blyth Star Enterprises is doing. Lola loved the attention and made some new friends too! It’s brilliant to see how our animals can bring joy and spark connections. Our Shelter is 100% reliant on the good will of our community to keep going, and partnerships like this show the true power of community and compassion.”
For more information about Blyth Star Enterprises, visit www.blythstar.org.uk or to learn more about Newcastle Dog & Cat Shelter, visit www.dogandcatshelter.com.