I’m aiming to raise €5,000 to help the charity CRAPAA, an abandoned dog shelter in Portugal, badly in need of essential funds for food and to pay veterinary bills

"Until one has loved an animal a part of one's soul remains unawakened" – Anatole France

Hi, I'm James. Thanks for taking the time to visit my GoGet Funding page.

I've set myself a challenge this year; to run the 2018 Paris Marathon on the 8th of April to raise money for CRAPAA to honour my dog Reine who was a great girl, great running partner and a brave soul.

We adopted Reine 4 years ago from the SPA in France. We were told she was abandoned by the side of a highway in the country out side of Paris. Very underweight and with a shaved back due to recent operations, she had been left in the shelter for a long time. She was scared of the other dogs and developed defensive behaviour that stayed with her the rest of her life. She died of an aggressive skin cancer two weeks ago. It took just three months to enter her blood and spread throughout her body.

Reine and I discovered Paris together, we ran on my days off and the furthest we ran was 33 km one Sunday in December, she pulled me along when I lagged. I believed she loved running and would get crazy excited every time I put on her harness as she knew it was time to run. We would usually run along the Seine river but her favourite place was Vincennes forest as it really feels like the countryside, I think where she lived in her past life.

CRAPAA is a local abandoned dog home in Central Portugal and is run by a small group of volunteers (including my parents!). These volunteers make it their mission to rescue injured dogs living on the street and dogs who have been abused. Many dogs in Portugal spend their lives on a short chain (usually too short to reach their water and food bowl) in rain or blistering sun with no shade. Sadly this is very common.

The charity does not receive any government funding however was donated a piece of land given by the local counsel, money donated, time and expertise donated by local vets and of course the kind people who volunteer their time. They have a zero policy of putting to sleep healthy dogs and pay for operations and veterinary bills with donated funds. They are in dire need of help.

Your donation will go directly towards dog food, collars and leads, vet bills, medication and the general running of the shelter (cleaning towels/blankets). Without funds, this would not be possible.

I wanted to honour her life by hopefully raising some money for an abandoned dog shelter very close to my heart. I would love to help make a difference to these dogs helping the charity find homes in Portugal and around the world for some, caring until the last moment for others. Hopefully another dog left alone abandoned and scared on the side of the road can also find a loving home. All money will go to straight to CRAPAA and I will post in the future how the money has been used to help these beautiful dogs.

Please visit the CRAPAA Facebook page for more info and photos. https://www.facebook.com/CRAPAA/

THANK YOU!

James