Since I began to help promote the great work done by The Border Collie Trust I have heard lots of people say words to the effect of, “I would love to help but can’t give a dog a home at the moment.” Staff at the Trust would rather you don’t offer a home to a dog if that is not something you really want to do. You should only be offering a home to one of their lovely dogs if the time is right for you to do that – you will need time, space, cash and a willingness to give up huge chunks of all of these in some cases! If now is not that time for you, perhaps you already have a dog, (Or several!) perhaps you have just had a new baby, or you work very long hours, then perhaps you should not be offering to give a dog a new home, but your help is still very much needed.
There are so many ways that you can support the work done by The Border Collie Trust that I am not going to even try to cover all of them in one feature or you would be reading for a very long time and probably thoroughly fed up with me! I will write other features about the many ways you can support the Trust over the next few weeks. In this feature I am going to focus on just a couple of ways you can support the Trust –
The Border Collie Support Scheme – a vital source of regular income
Ride4care – a sponsored event where one of the trustees will be riding a motorcycle from John O’Groats to Lands End
The Border Collie Support Scheme
The support scheme is the most important source of funding for the trust as this is a source of regular monthly income. One off donations and rehoming fees are critical to the running of the centre but the support scheme provides a regular income which allows budgeting of payments for regular outgoings.
Funds are needed to pay for electricity, food, vets bills, wages, transport costs and more. The funds raised via the support scheme mean the trust has the means to meet these obligations and continue their vital work.
Every month cash needs to be raised to pay for….
£1000 in vet’s bills
£400 – £500 transport costs
£200 – £300 electricity costs
A £15 donation means 6 dogs can be micro chipped
A £5 donation can provide flea treatment and worming for one dog 
All cost are carefully monitored but there are inevitable ongoing expenses to care for the collies and members of the Border Collie Support Scheme help provide that care each and every month.
Members of the scheme receive a thank you letter and certificate. Members also automatically are sent a quarterly copy of Border Collie World the Trusts own magazine. They also have the gratitude of all trustees, staff and the lovely girls and boys we are all working to help – the collies.
You can join the Support Scheme by setting up a direct debit or standing order – full info and a link for this is on the website.
If you need more details of this scheme please look on the website or phone the Trust’s office Monday to Friday on 0845 430 2882 (local rate call)
Ride 4 Care
The Border Collie Trust has been at the site in Staffordshire for 15 years in 2012 and to celebrate this landmark anniversary Ben Wilkes, trustee, will be undertaking a sponsored motorcycle ride from John O’Groats to Lands End on 22nd and 23rd July 2012.
This is Ben with his bike which is being “ridden” by the exceptionally good-looking Reilly, Ben’s dog, who I know just loves biscuits 
You can follow him around as he does the ride using the GPS signal from the bike. Follow this link and have a look at the map to see if they are out and about today
http://bordercollietrustgb.homestead.com/New_Site/Support_Us/Ride_4_Care.html
The bike is a Honda Pan European ST1300. Ben, who is an ex policeman says, “The bike is an ex Greater Manchester Police Bike so I feel quite at home on it.”
Border Collie Trust is a member of The Association of Dogs and Cats Homes (ADCH) and the plan is to visit other member’s sites along the route which can be viewed on the map here – THE ROUTE.
Ben hopes to raise funds and awareness of the work down by BCT and other ADCH members. ADCH is committed to developing good practice and maintaining high standards for dogs and cats in rescue centres. Many rescue centres including the Border Collie Trust do a lot of work on ideas to enrich the time animals spend in rescue centres and the intention is to raise funds specifically to continue this valuable work.
Any donation to help Ben collect as much cash as he can from his ride is very welcome, no matter how small the amount– obviously very large donations are also welcome!
You can donate on-line via the Trust web site – remember every pound counts so please give what you can today.
You can also donate by text just text RIDE46 followed by the amount you wish to donate (e.g. RIDE46 £5) to 70070 – it’s quick and simple and will help make a difference to the lives of dogs.
For more info on the ride be sure to check the Border Collie Trust website.
During Ben’s ride there will be regular updates via twitter – follow now so you will be able to see how he is getting on – twitter@Ride4Care.
TOTAL RAISED SO FAR – £2346
Help Ben to make this total go through the roof to help the collies
There will be more features on my blog to let you know about the ways you can support the Border Collie Trust in their work over the next few weeks and next Wednesday I will be featuring another dog looking for a home. I hope you can support by donating to Ben’s ride or that you can become a member of the support scheme. If you are not able to afford to do either of these there are ways you can help without it costing you anything.
- If you are local to the centre you can donate bagged clothing and shoes you no longer want as they are able to use these to raise funds – if you live within 20 miles of Swadlincote I can arrange for bags to be collected from your home – just send an email to info@bordercollietrustgb.org.uk giving your contact details and I will get in touch to arrange collection so you can help the collies without even leaving your home
- If you can’t offer a collie a home but know someone who can then you can be a massive help by telling them about the centre and letting them know about the lovely dogs there – if they offer a forever home to a dog then your help will have been massive!
I will end by leaving you with a couple of lovely pictures of the collies – more next Wednesday.
This is Conner, who is looking for a home, out walking with my daughter Cathy.
I took this lovely dog out for a walk at the Trust on Sunday with my daughter, his name is Connor, and you can view video footage of him here.
He was such a joy to be with that I suspect I may have to let you all know a bit more about him before next Wednesday, if you watch the video you will see he loves to run!
Tom is the newest member of my family – a rescue collie cross puppy from the Trust who has some rather odd sleep positions – this is not even his bed, it’s Stans!
Misty – looking for a new dad as her’s passed away.
Tom doesn’t seem to quite understand how to use a bed, but he looks very relaxed.
I think he was a bit confused – it’s not even his bed but he does like it a lot so he tries to squeeze into a tiny space at one end leaving most of it for Stan.
Pups is just too cute. You are doing a fantastic job with all your helping out. Love to hear it.
Thank you – I think we should all do what we can to help animals in rescue centres – we put them there.