Press release / Olympian challenges businesses to a kennel breakout fundraiser
Press release issued on behalf of Bath Cats & Dogs Home
Bath Cats and Dogs Home supporter Sharron Davies hopes canine friends like Shadow and Brooke will benefit from funds raised in its Kennel Break fundraising event
Olympian challenges businesses to a kennel breakout fundraiser
Former Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies MBE wants local businesses to swap their office desks for a kennel – to raise money for Bath Cats and Dogs Home.
Sharron, a celebrity ambassador for the Claverton Down charity, is encouraging animal- loving businesses to join the rescue and re-homing centre’s annual Kennel Break Challenge on Friday June 10.
Participants will be locked up in a kennel with only a laptop and mobile phone for company until they raise £1,000 by reaching out to their contacts.
So far ten local businesses have signed up for the fifth annual Kennel Break Challenge, but there are still 10 kennels yet to be filled.
“Bath Cats and Dogs Home needs £1.4 million each year to keep running, and the Kennel Break Challenge could raise £20,000 in just one day,” explained Ms Davies, who won a silver medal in the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
“The rescue centre’s hit an early milestone in filling so many of its fundraiser kennels already.
“It would be fantastic to attract 10 more recruits from Bath’s business community before June and raise a record amount this year.
“If participants fail to raise £1,000 in the first hour, they will be kept in the dog house for a further two hours until they can be released.
“Some participants build up their funds in advance of the Kennel Break Challenge, but there will be a social media frenzy on the day so everyone has a good chance of clawing their way to the £1,000 target.
“All they have to do is transfer the charisma and negotiating skills of office life to a dog’s life.
“You’d be barking mad not to want to sign up.”
Kennel inmates for this year’s event include veterinary surgeon and nurse from Bath Vets, Gwen Cardiff and Tracey Farion; Steve Smitherman, business manager of Barclays Bank’s Bath branch; Brian Topper, managing director of Centaur; senior lettings negotiator at Zest Lettings, Natalie Giles; Lauren Barnes, owner and day care assistant, Kate Hornby of Houndbound; director of operations at Novia, Nick Raine; financial advisor Adam Davitt of Smart Advice Financial Solutions and Smart Property Agents; Martin Spiller, chairman of Systemagic; and from Bath Cats and Dogs Home, HR and facilities manager Angela Chapman and administrator Kevin Ravelin.
Bath Cats and Dogs Home is one of the busiest adoption centres in the South West. In 2015 it took in more than 1,300 animals from across Bath, Somerset and Wiltshire, reunited 212 strays with their owners, and found loving, forever homes for 1,348 animals.
Zena Jones, a fundraiser for the charity, said it costs £4,500 a year to run just one kennel – and they are never empty, there’s always a dog in need.
“By taking just a couple of hours out of the office, local businesses will help us to ensure the animals we take in this summer are cared for properly and go on to experience the love of a new family.”
The business that raises the most money on June 10 will be crowned Bath Cats and Dog’s Home’s ‘Top Dog’ for 2016.
To sign up to this year’s Kennel Break challenge, call 01225 787335, or email zenajones@bcdh.org.uk
