HOT Cares Settles Debt for Animal Shelter Doing Vital Work in Community

Hot Cares comes across so many people who give their own time and money to good causes, and we wish we could help all of them.

Sadly, this is just not possible, but that doesn’t stop us celebrating and helping those we can, particularly people like Rene Parker.

Her story reached us via an email from friend Cara. Rene runs a shelter called Cause 4 Paws in Jackson’s Drift, an informal settlement in the south of Joburg, near Walkerville.

“This woman is an angel sent to earth and if there is anyone more deserving than her, I don’t know who is,” says Cara.

Rene has a team of youngsters from the settlement called the ‘Paw Rangers’, who help her with the dogs and staff at her shelter. She, in turn, helps the Paw Rangers with stationery for school, assists them financially, and each Christmas they get a care package that includes basics like toiletries.

“She is like a second mother to them and she loves them like her own children,” says Cara.

According to her, the shelter is desperately needed in the area. There are so many badly-abused, malnourished and sick dogs, and the nearest SPCA is in Alberton, 30 kilometres away. Rene relies entirely on donations and barely scrapes by most months.

“It’s heart-breaking to watch and I wish that I could do more to help her,” says Cara. “She has been threatened, beaten and dealt with theft. She’s an elderly woman, but she hustles hard every single month to make ends meet, pay the vet bills, and keep the centre open. She does a lot for the community and organizes vaccination drives, neutering, and donates foods and leashes to the residents who genuinely love their pets, but are not able to give them the basics they need.”

No surprise to hear that in these tough economic times, Rene is finding it difficult to pay her bills, as well as her staff. So, Hot Cares decided to call each of the suppliers with outstanding accounts, to see how we could help.

This is what we came across:

Kibler Park Vet – R7661; New South Veterinary Centre – R 5993.50; Hennie Alberts Veterinary Clinic – R2281; Hi Performance Feeds – R12 471.50; medication – R4000.

Not a problem!

Rene does such amazing work and we can see what a vital service she performs in her community, so Hot Cares will be stepping in to settle all those outstanding accounts and just ease Rene’s financial burden for now.

That’s a total of R32 407 worth of debt instantly settled!

If you are in a position to donate towards making a meaningful difference or have a story to alert us to, or a programme you’d like to partner with Hot Cares on, please get in touch with us by emailing [email protected].