PET enthusiasts of all ages are invited to wear their hearts on their sleeping bags and spend a night cuddling with shelter dogs and cats.
Tears Animal Rescue, a non-profit animal welfare organisation in the Western Cape, will host three sleepathon events at their animal shelter in Sunnydale in November.
Its annual flagship fund-raiser has a limit of 65 sleepathoners per night because of the Covid-19 health and safety regulations. Its goal is to raise R500 000.
All funds raised will go towards the Tears mobile and welfare clinics, providing essential veterinary and health-care services, including free vaccinations and sterilisations for pets from low-income communities.
Participants will need to check in at the shelter at 6pm where the will enjoy “paw-some” hospitality, a gourmet plant-based dinner and bonding time with their shelter friends until 7am the following morning.
Tears marketing co-ordinator Luke Kruyt said: “The Tears sleepathon is one of our favourite and most important fund-raising events of the year. In addition to its role as a critical revenue generator for the organisation, it has a massive positive impact on the animals in our care.
“After all, a kind gesture can reach a wound that only compassion can heal.
“We like to believe that our sleepathoners enjoy the experience as much as our shelter animals do, and we’ve been fortunate in the past to facilitate some adoptions as a direct result of the sleepathon.”
Established in 1999, Tears’ mission is to rescue, rehabilitate and rehome domestic animals in need.
“As a pro-life registered, non-profit organisation, Tears relies on the support of caring individuals and corporates for funding and to assist it in fulfilling its mission to rescue, rehabilitate, re-home and bring relief to animals in distress, whether through intervention, education, or medical assistance,” Kruyt said.
Tickets cost R200 per person on Quicket. For more information visit: www.tears.org.za/sleepathon or email [email protected]