Twelve-year-old boy helps raise more than £1,200 for animal welfare charity Pawz For Thought

Henry Macdonald has helped his mam, Wendy Macdonald, and auntie, Alison Pressling, to raise £1,268.73 for the Pawz For Thought animal charity, which is based on Ferryboat Lane in Sunderland.

The trio held an activity day at Alison’s house in Harton, with games such as bingo, a tombola and a quiz, hosted by 12-year-old Henry, on offer for those who came along to take part in.

There was also a rafle and a cake sale, with people and companies from across the North East donating prizes for the event.

Wendy has told the Gazette how the day went and revealed that the amount of money raised was well beyond their expectations.

She said: “Pawz For Thought do a lot of great work so we decided to host a charity event at Ali’s house.

“We got really lucky with the day as it was the only day when the weather had been nice for ages.

“It was an amazing day, everyone who came along had a really good time and donated towards the fundraiser for the charity.

“Henry hosted a quiz and was a great help throughout the entire day.

“Everyone was just so generous, we only expected to raise around £500 so to come away with double that is fantastic.”

Henry, Wendy and Alison were invited along to Pawz For Thought on Monday, October 9, where they were shown around the charity’s facilities by volunteer Lorraine Thornton.

Lorraine explained that it was to show them how the money that they raised would be spent and gave some background into how some of the animals, which include hedgehogs, cats, swans, pigeons, and more, came to be at Pawz For Thought.

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She commented: “At the moment there is so many animals that we are just overwhelmed, I think most charities are due to the cost of living crisis.

“People just can’t afford to feed their animals and take care of them so that money will help us with things like veterinary bills and also use to keep doing what we are doing.

“We have so many outgoing costs but people have been so generous with their support, they’ve been giving us food etc. but it really helps us do what we do.”

Pawz For Thought works throughtout the North East to help deal with the high number of animal welfare issues in the region.

You can find out more about the charity by visiting: https://www.pawzforthought.org/.