I’m sitting here feeling totally exhausted but totally elated at the same time . . . I can’t believe what we all achieved last night. Your generosity is overwhelming . . .
Last night we raised approximately €1300 from ticket sales and the raffle; BUT as a result of the publicity regarding the event we raised a further €490 in donations; PLUS the money from the afpop Wine offer (a donation of €1 per box ordered) resulting in another €211 ( a lot of vinho lovers in the East!) making a grand total of €2001 raised for APAR.
Our sincere thanks to every single one of you who attended the event, thanks to all of you who donated prizes for the raffles (Dizzie & Bill Bullock, Gareth, Emma & Milly Bullock, Antonio’s restaurant, Gymnasium Olhao, Flávio Faisca – Personal Trainer, Philippe Stabile Hair & Beauty in Quinta do Logo, BoBo’s Bistro – Mark & Tina at CdP.
We did warn you “Don’t expect cordon bleu, don’t expect fast service - just expect to have fun !!” and we weren’t wrong . . . You were all extremely patient, you went with the flow regarding the long wait for food. Serving 123 of us wasn’t an easy task, especially when Dini’s chip fryer stopped working early on in the evening and they had to cook the chips the “old fashioned” way – which delayed the speed of food coming out. Someone sent me an email this morning and said “We enjoyed the food and any delay meant more conversation and one can only enjoy that!”. I hope this sentiment was shared by many of you, as there was a lot of buzz from chatter in the restaurant!
I could sit here writing thank you after thank you after thank you from the bottom of my heart . . . but what’s really important is the tails that will be wagging at the APAR shelter tonight, the doggies knowing they haven’t been forgotten, that people do care and during the winter their shelter and current home can now be insulated a bit more to protect them from the cold and wet months.
Many of you expressed an interest in helping out at the shelter, we are always looking for volunteers to take the dogs for a walk (some of them never get the chance to go out!), we need people who are willing to foster dogs until they find new homes (this helps them to become more socialised) and if any of you feel you could adopt one that’s even better.
Graeme is more than happy to arrange an “Open Morning” for those of you who would like to see the shelter – we are ALL very proud of what we’ve achieved – this is OUR local community shelter that we ALL own one way or another.
One of my wishes for Christmas is finding a home for Lelita. She has been in the kennels for nearly 18 months; she was rescued from gypsies who ill-treated her but she is a pretty little girl. Despite her bad start in life, she was full of bounce and enthusiasm but now she’s slowly getting institutionalised in the shelter . . . we thought we’d found a home for her once, but a potential adopter decided she was “allergic” (!) to her and poor Lelita had to go back to the shelter. I can’t begin to tell you how excited she was running around in a garden, and then having to go back to her cage was so sad and depressing for her . . . so if any of you are interested in seeing little Lelita please let me know. Will any of you grant me my wish?
On behalf of all of the APAR team and Friends of APAR . . .
Have a Barking Good Christmas, many thanks for all of your support during 2016 and hopefully you will continue to support us in 2017.
Much love and tail wagging,
Linda & Graeme
Friends of APAR
Find us online – search for “APAR Moncarapacho” or visit www.facebook.com/aparmoncarapachofuseta
