This morning (Monday 19th December) Hannah went to our old cattery, which we've been using as storage, to sort through donations and send them out to our charity shops to sell in the run up to Christmas.

Upon opening the door Hannah was greeted by a cascade of water. Thanks to the sub zero temperatures over the last few days the pipes had frozen and burst. Water was now pouring freely from every inch of the ceiling, down onto the donations below. Sadly by the time the leak was found the water had soaked into everything, destroying thousands of pounds worth of donated shop items and along with PPE, Hay and Small Animal bedding.

The team at the home did their best to salvage what they could, but most of it was now only suitable for the skip. A double whammy as we now have to pay to dispose of the damaged items.

We were thankfully able to track down a plumber who isolated the building so we could get the water back on for the animal home. However were not sure what will happen with the building itself, as the water damage is significant. The internal fixtures and fittings will need to be completely replaced if the building were to be used again. This leaves us with nowhere to store any of the donations that come into the animal home, and while the old cattery wasnt ideal, it was the best option we had.

Of course this couldnt have come at a worse time, with the cost of everything at the animal home set to increase significantly next year. Were still waiting to see what the cost of putting this right will be, but were asking for any donations to help us cover these unexpected costs.

Were hopeful that some of the damaged stock will be covered by our insurance, but this leaves us with the cost of disposing of the damaged stock and three shops now very low on donations during the run up to Christmas, one of our biggest shopping periods.

We now urgently need donations to restock our shops. If you have any good quality items (particularly clothing) could you please take these to our shops in Goodramgate, Acomb or Selby. As we now have nowhere to store them at the home please take all donations directly to the shops.

Also if anyone has a storage unit we could use for the foreseeable future, that would be an amazing help.

Times are hard for everyone at the moment but if you can spare anything to help us out it would be greatly appreciated.