Guinea Pigs & Community Need Your Help!
Tax deductible
Want to join me in making a difference? I'm raising money to benefit Guinea Pig Sanctuary, and any donation will help make an impact. Thanks in advance for your contribution to this cause that means so much to me.
https://www.guineapigsanctuary.org/our-story-mission
Sanctuary ~ It has many meanings. It means NO more forced breeding, NO more starving, NO more abuse, NO more being eaten. Sanctuary is the BEST word to describe our place that helps them live a life of love, even if it's only for a few months. Alex started this sanctuary when he was 12 years old. He's a burn patient who struggles with multiple surgeries yet still has a heart of gold. He just wants the piggies to have a safe place to go while they wait for a forever home.
Since the fire (February 2019) that took all of our personal piggies and our grandson, we have worked through a year of homelessness, losing everything, dealing with grief and the bittersweetness of opening a new location in Salisbury, MA. We were open a week before COVID caused the shutdown.
We have had to pay out over $5,000 for the plumbing plus another grand for the temporary signage and then each month we are still paying the $1,600 rent. COVID has not slowed down the amount of surrenders coming in at all and our numbers are increasing daily but sadly, due to the severity of many of the sick piggies, decreasing. Currently we are spending anywhere from $500-3,000 a week to keep up with the sick fur babies that come in. Just over the past month we have taken in 73 guinea pigs, 4 ferrets, 2 sugar gliders, 12 rabbits, and 4 chinchillas. All animals that are NOT guinea pigs are then taken to a respective rescue that deals with that type of animal. That's not all we do though.
https://www.guineapigsanctuary.org/covid-19-resources
Currently we are providing a food pantry for families as well as a pet food pantry to help families keep their pets. We are also helping many families with other resources to help combat some of the struggles of the pandemic. We share our sanctuary back yard field with any families that need social distancing outside time. Families are welcome to picnic, ride bikes, or just enjoy sunshine. We also have ESL and IEP reading time for families in our library so that kids don't get behind on reading over this time.
Think that's enough? Not us :) As a community resource emotional support animal rescue we also provide many other services. Emotional Support Guinea Pigs are fostered by children with mental and/or physical disabilities to help them through the anxiety of life right now. Families also come in to feed and hold the piggies to help destress and decompress. We continue to do what we do even when we are struggling personally over the amount of loss in our own lives.
Because we are technically not open until the schools reopen, we are struggling. We know our village will keep us afloat until we can fully open but in the meantime we have done everything we can to keep the sanctuary going. There are so many ways you can help.
https://www.guineapigsanctuary.org/donations
Currently we are limited on using volunteers as we're only open by appointment which severely limits the amount of adoptions and fosters we can do. Surrenders however are done seven days a week so that we can give them a chance to have a loving life. As we are a non-profit, we don't qualify for a lot of the grants and such out there as we weren't technically open long enough to apply. This makes things even harder. We are not going to give up though. We will continue to fight for the sanctuary, the families we strive to help, and the piggies.
Thank you so much for sharing this with your friends and family. We just need to make it through a few more months, a few more vet bills, a few more piggies. We are confident that once we are open we will be fine. We are resilient and won't give up or give in until Alex's dream of saving the world 'one piggy at a time' is accomplished, which means this will always be a sanctuary ;)
We are sending out daily prayers to our families, our village and the world for health, safety and sanity. If you are reading this and you need help, just ask and we will do what we can. Helping others is so very important and an integral part of our mission. Thank you!
https://www.guineapigsanctuary.org/our-story-mission
Sanctuary ~ It has many meanings. It means NO more forced breeding, NO more starving, NO more abuse, NO more being eaten. Sanctuary is the BEST word to describe our place that helps them live a life of love, even if it's only for a few months. Alex started this sanctuary when he was 12 years old. He's a burn patient who struggles with multiple surgeries yet still has a heart of gold. He just wants the piggies to have a safe place to go while they wait for a forever home.
Since the fire (February 2019) that took all of our personal piggies and our grandson, we have worked through a year of homelessness, losing everything, dealing with grief and the bittersweetness of opening a new location in Salisbury, MA. We were open a week before COVID caused the shutdown.
We have had to pay out over $5,000 for the plumbing plus another grand for the temporary signage and then each month we are still paying the $1,600 rent. COVID has not slowed down the amount of surrenders coming in at all and our numbers are increasing daily but sadly, due to the severity of many of the sick piggies, decreasing. Currently we are spending anywhere from $500-3,000 a week to keep up with the sick fur babies that come in. Just over the past month we have taken in 73 guinea pigs, 4 ferrets, 2 sugar gliders, 12 rabbits, and 4 chinchillas. All animals that are NOT guinea pigs are then taken to a respective rescue that deals with that type of animal. That's not all we do though.
https://www.guineapigsanctuary.org/covid-19-resources
Currently we are providing a food pantry for families as well as a pet food pantry to help families keep their pets. We are also helping many families with other resources to help combat some of the struggles of the pandemic. We share our sanctuary back yard field with any families that need social distancing outside time. Families are welcome to picnic, ride bikes, or just enjoy sunshine. We also have ESL and IEP reading time for families in our library so that kids don't get behind on reading over this time.
Think that's enough? Not us :) As a community resource emotional support animal rescue we also provide many other services. Emotional Support Guinea Pigs are fostered by children with mental and/or physical disabilities to help them through the anxiety of life right now. Families also come in to feed and hold the piggies to help destress and decompress. We continue to do what we do even when we are struggling personally over the amount of loss in our own lives.
Because we are technically not open until the schools reopen, we are struggling. We know our village will keep us afloat until we can fully open but in the meantime we have done everything we can to keep the sanctuary going. There are so many ways you can help.
https://www.guineapigsanctuary.org/donations
Currently we are limited on using volunteers as we're only open by appointment which severely limits the amount of adoptions and fosters we can do. Surrenders however are done seven days a week so that we can give them a chance to have a loving life. As we are a non-profit, we don't qualify for a lot of the grants and such out there as we weren't technically open long enough to apply. This makes things even harder. We are not going to give up though. We will continue to fight for the sanctuary, the families we strive to help, and the piggies.
Thank you so much for sharing this with your friends and family. We just need to make it through a few more months, a few more vet bills, a few more piggies. We are confident that once we are open we will be fine. We are resilient and won't give up or give in until Alex's dream of saving the world 'one piggy at a time' is accomplished, which means this will always be a sanctuary ;)
We are sending out daily prayers to our families, our village and the world for health, safety and sanity. If you are reading this and you need help, just ask and we will do what we can. Helping others is so very important and an integral part of our mission. Thank you!
Organizer
Kim Lone
Organizer
Salisbury, MA
Guinea Pig Sanctuary
Beneficiary