A group of York locals are aiming to raise money for RSPCA York, Harrogate and District Branch with an idea with a twist.
Kerry Smith, Jane Lund and Tina Abbott have launched their fundraiser called ‘Badly Drawn Pets’ for RSPCA York Animal Home. They are inviting York RSPCA supporters and pet owners to donate £10 and email a photograph of their pet in return for a timeless hand drawn or painted portrait.
The twist is that the portraits are all done by other volunteers who on the whole, aren’t really very good at drawing!
Details of the fundraiser can be found on the RSPCA website www.rspca-yorkhome.org.uk/branch-news/badly-drawn-pets/
Tina Abbot said:
The only promises we can make about the portrait are that it will be unique, not that good, and will hopefully make people smile.
We have a team of volunteers, most of whom can’t really draw for toffee, but they are standing by with pencils and felt tips at the ready, to create masterpieces.
There will be a few exceptions though as very kindly, a handful of York artists are also volunteering their time to help, which means that there’s a possibility that you will receive a beautiful portrait of your pet in return for your donation. It’s the luck of the draw!
Jane Lund said:
We first saw this idea a few months ago. A rescue in America had shared some amazingly bad but funny pet paintings they had done to raise money.
They were so inundated with orders that they couldn’t keep up.
Tina and I had discussed organising something similar over the summer to help York RSPCA and we teamed up with Kerry to bring it forward when we realised how many of the home’s fundraising activities would have to be cancelled due to the lock down.
This is something fun and it can be done entirely on-line, so no risks either, other than to our artistic reputations!
The team, who have between them adopted 11 dogs from York RSPCA over the years, are all long time supporters and volunteers for the animal home and the work it does and wanted to do their bit to ensure that it doesn’t have to close its doors.
Kerry Smith said:
We’ve all seen first-hand the dedication, love and tears that the team give to help so many animals, and we really wanted to do something to help them and raise spirits at the same time. We are really hoping that there will be a huge response from the animal lovers of York. If you don’t have a pet, you can buy a portrait for a friend as a gift. We are able to do bad drawings of all kinds of pets, not just dogs and cats.
RSPCA Branch Manager, Peter Gorbert, said:
The York Animal Home is an independent charity and responsible for all of its fundraising. We’ve got a huge target to meet during the lockdown but our volunteers have been fantastic. It’s also nice that we can do something a bit uplifting
You can sign up to support the York RSPCA by visiting www.rspca-yorkhome.org.uk/donate
