Help PAWS build a proper shelter for strays on Paros

We kindly request your financial support for the construction of a new dog and cat shelter on the island of Paros.

We are a legally registered Greek Animal Welfare Charity, established in 1999 (Court of First Instance in Syros No 889/1999). We are a non- profit organization, operated by volunteers and managed by an elected Board, administering the charity. According to our Statute, we also have a 3-member Inspection Committee. The current Board was elected in September 2014 and subsequently re-elected in 2016 and 2018.

The current PAWS Board members with their prime responsibilities are provided at the end.

Our work includes rescuing of a great number of stray or abandoned puppies and dogs, kittens and cats around the island and the provision of medical treatment and care, while in our temporary refuge facility, we foster up to 40 dogs and puppies. Every year we successfully re-home some 200 dogs and cats, finding loving families for them in Greece and abroad. Additionally, our volunteers feed up to 400 cats around the island every day and neuter about 150 cats every year to reduce future numbers.

CURRENT REFUGE SITUATION

When we were first elected in 2014, we were presented with a situation that had been the status quo for many years:

• There was an intensive cat neutering program, but no cat refuge. Stray cats were fed in cat colonies across the island, but no facilities existed for cats to recover after medical interventions.
• The area of land at the facility (<1000 square metres), surrounding the small single-storey accommodation, had been divided into penned areas and was divided again and again to house the increasing number of abandoned dogs, eventually having up to 40 dogs at any one time.
• Dogs were cared for in a temporary facility that had been loaned to PAWS by a local farmer.

It became immediately apparent to the new Board that this was an unsustainable situation for the following reasons:

• The living accommodation was in poor condition with the attached store room in danger of collapse.
• The pens had been developed as the need for them increased and the very limited space meant that access was through pen to pen, rather than by a preferred route with separate access to each pen. Due to the layout, dogs must be chained as people move from pen to pen and evacuation in case of an emergency such as a wild fire in the area, would be virtually impossible.
• The land did not and would never belong to our association and we were therefore very limited in the improvements we could make.
• There was no cat facility, no isolation or recovery facility for dogs or cats.

Given the above situation, the Board decided that a new site should be found in order to develop a new shelter in line with the prevailing legislation and respecting relevant European standards.Over the past 4 years, PAWS investigated many potential sites. Finally, in June 2018 we succeeded in acquiring a suitable plot of land, meeting all the relative criteria.

Our vision is to use our new shelter, not only as a state-of-the-art refuge centre for stray animals, but also to utilize the facility to educate upcoming generations of young Greeks in the proper care and husbandry of domestic animals. We also aim to improve the mental impression of sheltered animals to both locals and visitors to the island.

NEW SHELTER PROGRESS

The project progress to-date is as follows:

• Purchase of 9.600 square metres of land to construct 32 new kennels, a cattery, a housing unit for the shelter manager, an office and a food storage place; this area is 10 times the land mass we currently occupy, allowing for adequate exercise and play of the stray dogs and cats that we will offer refuge to.
• Approval granted by the Naxos City Planning authorities for suitability of the land to be used as a shelter.
• Approval granted from the Forestry Dept. of Agriculture authorities.
• Approval granted for the architectural design by the Architectural Committee of the Naxos City Planning authorities.
• Approval from Archaeological authorities.
• Completion of the electro-mechanical study.
• Plans for the shelter design and construction submitted to building permit authorities of Naxos before end of December 2018
• Target date to start construction February 2019.
• Building permit was obtained in March 2019 and Construction works started in April 2019.

NEW SHELTER BUDGET ESTIMATE & FINANCING

Our total budget estimate for the new shelter construction is €135,000. An analysis of our cost projections is HERE.

Donations already given or committed to are close to €60,000, i.e. about 45% of the construction costs.Therefore, we will be most grateful if you would kindly consider contributing towards raising the remaining amount of €75,000.

Donations can be made in any amount from our buy a brick for €5 donation to buying a complete, fully functional kennel for €1300.

Every donor will know that through their contribution, they helped to change the lives of stray animals on this island forever.

Those donating €100 or more will have (at their discretion) their name engraved on a wall memorial plaque at the new shelter.

Those donating €1300 or more can have the kennel named after them, with a plaque attached to their kennel.

Please help us to complete this very significant project for the stray animals of Paros and make the dreams of our lovely animals and our charity, come true.

Thank you

The Board of PAWS
Roula Eleftheriadou, President
Ray Fellows, Vice President & Dog Program Manager
Janet Turner, Treasurer & Cat Program Manager
Mary Fellows, Secretary & PAWS Shop Manager
Barbara Polyzos, Member

Alternate Members
Alexandros Dimakopoulos
Pete Coots
Barbara Ellis