Keep your pet’s ‘Badly drawn pets’ initiative raises over £2,500
Starting out with a target of just £500, York organisation ‘Keep your pet’ (KYP) has to date raised over £2,500 from its ‘Badly drawn pet’ initiative. The on-line event involved the sale of drawings of supporters’ pets, including chickens & hamsters in addition to dogs & cats.
The organisers Tina & Jane, who call themselves Team Badly Drawn Pets, recruited volunteer artists of varying levels of skill and, in exchange for a donation of £10, pet owners received a personal pet portrait created by one of the artists.
Some of the artists are better than others but everyone entered into the spirit of the event & we haven’t had any complaints! It’s a talking point & it’s all for a good cause!
“The only promise we can make about the portraits is that they are unique. And it’s not just for cats & dogs, our team can do bad drawings of all kinds of pets, & if you don’t have a pet of your own you can always treat a deserving friend.”
Jane added:
“The idea came from a rescue centre in America, which had shared some amazingly bad but funny pet paintings they did to raise money in 2019. They were so inundated with orders that they couldn’t keep up and our 2020 fundraiser for the York RSPCA was just the same. It has lifted everyone’s spirits, & kept our volunteer artists occupied during lockdown. All is done on-line so there are no risks – other than to our artistic reputations!”
Founded in 2012, KYP is unique to York & a collaboration between York RSPCA and Age UK York. It aims to help older and vulnerable people keep their animal companions, by looking after pets when their owners are taken ill or have a hospital stay, or walking them and helping with vet visits etc. when a pet owner needs support with this.
KYP has continued to support the health and welfare of vulnerable pet owners during the pandemic, recognising how important the company and security of a pet has been at this time, including in maintaining a routine and sense of normality. The event has been equally successful in lifting spirits and raising much needed funds.
You can find out all about Keep Your Pet and see the brilliant entries at: Badly Drawn Pets – Keep Your Pet
