Four residents of Petrozavodsk have established the Rex Charity Fund which helps homeless animals. Alexandra Sukhova, Anastasia Bykova, Alyona Kozyreva, and Anastasia Mochalova have helped cats and dogs in shelters for a long time to come to the conclusion that it is easier to organize such work through the fund.
Alexandra Sukhova, President of the Rex Charitable Fund, told 7x7 that they had registered the fund in November 2020. According to the volunteers, city shelters regularly need food for pets, firewood, information support, and workers. The founders of the fund want to help them in an organized way.
"Our first task is to help already existing shelters so that they know where to get oatmeal, where to get firewood, and so on. We want to be some kind of domestic helper for them. Someone needs more help, someone needs less. We have started with buckwheat. We have collected four tons of buckwheat with the city. That is, 350 dogs are actually provided with buckwheat for two months. And this is a very cool result," explained Alexandra Sukhova.
The fund's members intend to launch their own website and tutor animal overseers. Another task is to work with the press and promote the stories of animals that have been temporarily taken in by overseers. The volunteers are now saving a dog, which was severely injured in the head. It was sent to St. Petersburg for treatment, and it will be necessary to raise money to pay for it.
In addition, the founders of the fund want to find time for educational activities. They plan to tell people about the need to chip and sterilize pets and how they managed to help animals thanks to charity fundraisings.
The volunteers intend to attract business to support cats and dogs in shelters. In the near future, they will launch a campaign of assistance in city cafés: food and drink venues will be able to deduct small amounts of money from the payment of certain dishes, ordered by customers, to the fund.
Alexandra Sukhova explained that the creation of a charitable fund allowed keeping transparent records and complying with taxation management. Contracts and agreements are signed with companies that help the fund. In a year, the volunteers who have joined together within the fund will be able to apply for grant support from the state. According to the terms of the fund, the money will be accumulated on a single operating account, rather than personal bank cards of the volunteers. According to Alexandra Sukhova, it is more convenient to work with finances through the fund, and people have more confidence in charity fundraisings:
"Our motto – we have it on our business cards and everywhere else – is ‘We help people to help animals’. I want as many people as possible to gradually unite."
There are four shelters for homeless animals in and around Petrozavodsk: the First Petrozavodsk Public Shelter, Doroga Domoy (‘way home’), Kovcheg (‘ark’), and Predannye Serdtsa (‘devoted hearts’). Dog trapping is organized by the municipality, but the volunteers of the Nadezhda (‘hope’) Group of Assistance to Homeless Animals are responsible for feeding the captured animals. They also look for owners for these dogs.
