Happy Paws shops in service of animals

I had written to The Times about our shop after it opened in 2009. The day we opened our doors we had very little in stock. Now, over 18 months later, we have a shop just bulging with stock, which we have saved since we first traded!

The Happy Paws charity shop in Marsascala has now raised a five-figure amount to fund our Marsa clinic. We have two vets and a theatre nurse, plus a full-time receptionist. All other staff are volunteers, who work very hard for no monetary reward; instead we get a lot of job satisfaction.

We neuter all the stray cats and dogs that we can find. Those who join Happy Paws as a member can bring as many cats and dogs for neutering as they like for only €15 per annum. So feeders of colonies need not worry about the expense of getting their cats neutered. Come to us!

We also have shops in Santa Venera and Birkirkara. Those are the only three Happy Paws shops so far on the island but we anticipate opening others.

Our shops’ volunteer force is a mixture of many nationalities – we have many Brits, who are used to working in the charity shop sector in the UK. Now, we are gathering the Maltese, plus Polish, Moroccan, Austrian. Our South African volunteers have issued our very first newsletter!

As well as working in the shop, we have held several social evenings, where the volunteers meet up for the first time, as they work different shifts on different days, and only know the names of the others. Everyone is mixing in wonderfully well and they are all team players. Even when we struggle with different languages, there is always someone who knows what the other person means. We have 11 different shifts throughout the week, working 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Friday, and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday.

However, we still need more donations. To maintain our very successful shop means we must constantly be refilling our ever depleting shelves.

We would like to thank the generosity of all the people of Malta, who have kindly donated goods to the shop, and let them know not only are they supporting Happy Paws but that we pass on our unwanted goods donated to the Abandoned Animals Association as well as to several Church charities, that collect from our shop several times a week!

If we have confirmation outfits that are not sold, these are taken to the convents, to be used for children who perhaps are from one-parent families, so they would not feel left out on these special occasions.

Thank You Malta, we appreciate your generous donations!