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Lachlan McGill held a Trash and Treasure Market - "Just wanted to let you know
that we had our first fundraising event as a group yesterday. We set up
a stall at a trash and treasure market with goods donated by a group of
us and managed to raise AU$630. It was a great effort by a number of
people who joined the cause based simply on what I have told them about
the fantastic work you guys are doing over in Phuket."
Trash and Treasure Market
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Sunday, 20 January 2008
It was a cool and rainy day (typical Melbourne weather for summer!) and
we were all up at 5.00 am in time to get to Dandenong for 6.30 am.
Lee and Deb had smiles on their faces from the very beginning and the
smiles never left them all day. We nabbed two market spots right next to
each other and Lee and I went off to hire some tables while Deb started
unpacking all the goodies.
It was sprinkling with rain a little, but we forged ahead using our
positive energy hoping that it was NOT going to bucket down.
Lachlan had created some brochures for us to show on our stalls, and
from out of nowhere Deb produced some signs that we both stuck on our
cars windows to say that all monies raised today would benefit SDF.
Lucky it had been raining as the drops on the windows kept the signs
stuck on the cars most of the morning!
We had collected so many things to sell – books, clothes, lamps, drawer
organisers, knick knacks, jewellery, crockery, photo frames, old vinyl
records, CDs etc. And wow – we were selling things before we could even
finish unpacking the cars! It was only 6.45 am and there were plenty of
people around all wanting to buy bits and pieces. Unbeknownst to us, one
of our early customers was a rival stallholder who bought up big with us
and then re-sold the goods on their stall at hugely marked up prices. We
didn’t really discover this till very late in the morning and we were
all horrified at the lack of ‘market stall etiquette’.
I had sold a lovely Chinese urn for $5 first thing in the morning, and
late in the day, we noticed that it was for sale on another woman’s
stall. Another SDF supporter, Tony, who was also helping us,
surreptitiously went over on a reconnaissance mission to find out the
price and we were all aghast to learn that she was selling it for $25!
What a cheek. We had to comfort ourselves by muttering the word ‘karma’
many times over so we could all calm down. The audacity of some people.
She had bought so much from us in the early morning and we thought we
were going so well....only to discover her deception later in the day.
It was a sour point.
Never mind....we were making lots of money for SDF and selling plenty of
goodies. A few people expressed interest in SDF, but only three people
took brochures. I was heartened on the day when two children came to
give me a donation for the dogs and cats of Phuket – the only people to
donate all day. They each gave me $1.50 – surely it was their pocket
money for the day. How kind and generous those two children were.
Jane and Tony arrived around 9.00 am to give us all a hand. We
definitely needed their help as we were doing a roaring business and it
was certainly hard to keep up with all the customers.
By the end of the morning, we had raised $496.15 for Soi Dog Foundation.
We still had quite a few goods left over though, so Deb and Lee packed a
bunch of stuff back up into their car and I packed a bunch back into
mine. It was all over by around 12.45 pm and we had all had a good day
(except for discovering that others were re-selling our goods).
I had driven 950kms south from Sydney to Melbourne for the Trash and
Treasure Market with my car piled high with plenty of goodies. My thanks
go to Con, Steve and Miri, staff of Sydney Boys High School who donated
lots of things for me to sell at the market. Now it was time to start
the long drive back!
First I headed back to Lachlan’s place to drop off the remaining goods
which weren’t sold and I received a rousing welcome from his pets Indie,
Charlie and Jasper. He and Deb, along with other SDF supporters in
Melbourne are already planning another market day to sell even more
goods! I think we will be more aware of the tactics of other stall
holders though!!!
All in all, we had a lovely day. The rain held off and we sold quite a
lot of things. We raised the profile of SDF a little and so our aims
were achieved.
Thank you to Lachlan, Deb, Lee,
Tony and Jane. Awesome effort!
Lynne Williams
SDF Supporter and Sponsor
(Lynne drove 2000 miles to attend and help with this event! - Thanks
Lynne!)
CHRISTMAS PARTY AT TATONKA,
Phuket - December 2007
The Christmas party at the Tatonka
restaurant, situated near the Laguna resorts entrance was a tremendous
success. Totally sold out owner and chef Harold Schwarz opened the
restaurant, which is renowned as the best in the area, on what is
normally their night off and provided all the delicious food at his own
expense. Harold is a great supporter of SDF and personally donates by
putting money in the restaurant donation box every night. When his wife
Khun Yen celebrated her birthday recently she requested a truck load of
food for the shelter as her present and they personally care for several
ex street dogs and cats.
Jenny Gardner who spends her winters here,
again did the organizing and sourced most of the prizes that were
auctioned off to raise much needed funds. A big thank you to Harold and
Jenny for all their hard work in making it such a successful night.
Fundraiser France, August 2007
Another successful fundraiser was held on August 6th in South West
France, to support the work of the SDF neutering programme. As the
weather was doubtful it was decided to move the luncheon inside to a
very prettily decorated barn. 36 people turned up and a delicious lunch
with wine was served. The atmosphere was very relaxed and by lunchtime,
as the guests arrived the sun was shining. There was good music and lots
of games, and the ‘Dingbat’ quiz was enjoyed with a noisy Table 7
winning a box of Belgian chocolates. There was also a raffle and a live
auction on a lunch for two at a nearby hotel, which fetched three times
its worth. This was a good opportunity to tell everyone about the SDF,
and the CD on the SDF was running throughout the luncheon. Euro 537 was
raised which will hopefully will go a long way in Thai Bhat!
One happy and extraordinary coincidence was a couple who arrived for the
lunch, who were staying in the cottage that was donated to the first
major fundraiser of the SDF at the Hilton Hotel, Phuket, earlier this
year. They had booked this particular week, never thinking they would be
supporting the SDF a second time in one year!
 
Magali's parents, Mr & Mrs Clavel came to see her. They
brought lots of meds & cash collected in Switzerland. Mag's has done 2
spells of volunteering for us this year, whilst she's been travelling,
both several weeks each
Running for Soi Dog
Mack After living in
Phuket for two years and volunteering for the Soi Dog Foundation I have
developed big love for the dogs there. I recently left Thailand along
with a soi dog I adopted and am now living in Portugal. I have recently
completed the Lisbon half marathon and have now completed a full
marathon on April 15th (www.clgoldmarathon.com.)
I raised funds for Soi Dog.
Simara's Sponsored Head Shave
Simara, one of our generous
supporters, had a sponsored head shave on 2nd of March 2007 ,it
was held in The Lamb Inn, which is in a small village called Paulton on
the outskirts of Bristol in the UK. Simara raised 22,000 THB!!!.
March 3rd 07
saw us hold our first major fundraiser at the Hilton Hotel at Karon
Beach. Everybody agreed it was an outstanding success both as a fun
night out and as a fund raiser.
A big thank you to all
the local companies who donated prizes for our prize draw and
auction.
Maxine organized the
whole event with the assistance of volunteers like Jenny who spends
6 months per year here and who had previously run a pre Christmas
fund raiser for us at a local bar, and Joan from the International Women's Club, who helped with the selling of tickets etc..
It looks as if we made in the
region of 420,000tbt, the money is still being totalled.
Christmas Fundraiser
The Soi Dog Foundation
had an
early Xmas present this year with 71.800 baht raised at a fundraiser
on December
the 15th
2006
51.800 baht raised on the night, with
an added bonus of 20.000 baht donated by a most generous dog lover!
41
people attended which was a lovely surprise as only 28 expected!
More tables were quickly organised and the welcoming drink much
appreciated.
There were lots of games throughout the evening and a Christmas quiz
on Christmas jingles, with a prize for the winning table.
Children were also involved with no shortage of willing participants
all eager to win a fluffy soi dog! There was also a short talk by
John Dalley on the reasons the funds were being raised (mainly the
neutering programme) and the aims of the Society for the future
Also grateful thanks given to the many unpaid volunteers without
which we could not continue this worthwhile work.Christmas
carols were enjoyed and sang, accompanied by a talented man on a
penny whistle, and the raffle prizes very generously bought. There
was also a live auction of three lovely framed prints unexpectedly
donated on the day. The food was excellent, the atmosphere relaxed,
positive and happy, so all in all a pretty wonderful evening.
So pop the date in your calendar for next year! Jenny
27 June 06 -
€500
raised by Jenny Gardner and Friends in France
It is encouraging to know that people
around the world, having visited Phuket, and heard of the Soi Dog
Foundation, sometimes leave with thoughts of helping to raise awareness,
and funds.
On June 27th this year in the
Tarn, SW France, just over €500 (25.000 Baht) was raised for the SDF.
Invitations were sent, a wonderful lunch
was provided, and donations were gratefully received afterwards. There
was also a raffle which proved very popular. Information of the SDF was
set out on the tables, in the hope that this event will encourage others
and be repeated in the future.
The donation was used
directly to help pay for some of our treatment costs this month. For
some reason we have had an unusually large number of dogs and cats
suffering from some horrendous wounds and injuries, many of them
inflicted by humans. This week we had picked up another 2 with smashed
legs. One resulted in an amputation.
June 06 -
raised by Help the
Strays - Switzerland
A Swiss
association whose goal is to help stray animals in the world.www.helpthestrays.com
Here are
the links in their website to SDF and
the
pictures. June 06 - 227 GBP
raised and a dog sponsored by The Refuge-
UK
The Refuge
http://www.rykat.org/forums Sponsoring Tripod from Wat
KuKu Prompang
In fact many of the Refuge's
visitors sponsor dogs from Soi Dog
22 June 06 - €507
raised by AAGAT - France
A French site to try and
help improve the lives of animals.
Nadège -
Présidente de l'Association des Anges Gardiens des Animaux de la Terre (A.A.G.A.T.)
http://www.aagat.com
http://www.ecole-du-chat-bordeaux.com
nadege@aagat.com
06 16 39 85 99
Si vous souhaitez nous aider à financer des stérilisations : achetez sur
http://www.empreinte-du-chat.com
Thanks to you all!!!! |
