Dog toys lighten mood and aid animal charities as greetings industry steps in to help Ukraine crisis
As the world watches the awful events in Ukraine with horror, lightening the mood while also helping out can only be a good thing – and something retailer Sean Austin is known for.
And with his famous love of pooches to the fore, in just three days the owner of Malvern’s Austin & Co has used Vladimir Putin dog toys to raise £430 to donate to help Ukrainian rescue centres.
“I was thinking how a quirky independent shop in the English shires could help the cause,” Sean said, “and the only way I could think of is to do what we do best – a mix of our dry humour, quirk, and dogs.
“Sat here in Malvern, in a shop that sells nice cards and stationery, it’s difficult to comprehend that less than 2,000 miles away, a major European country is going through hell.”
Following on from his highly popular range of Boris and Trump (remember him?!) dog chews, Sean secured a version depicting the Russian president, and promised all the monies from selling each £20 toy would be donated to the cause.
Having publicised the sale through social media on Monday, February 28, by Thursday, March 3, Sean was able to announce: “Thanks to our wonderful customers, we were able this evening to make the first donations totalling £430 from the sale of our first 20 Vlad dog toys.
“It’s been difficult to decide where to donate and which organisation was best placed to help out as quick as possible. It was also important that the funds raised actually went somewhere where there would be help on the ground, and also taking advice on what was legit or not – even in times of war, there are, unfortunately, still scammers out there.”
The International Fund For Animal Welfare (IFAW) support two shelters in Ukraine and has been supplied resources like food and veterinary supplies so received £230, while £200 has been donated to Transform A Street Dog, which rescues and rehabilitates street dogs in Ukraine and is also helping dogs that have had to be abandoned by their owners as they flee the mayhem.
Sean, who has won the Most Dog-Friendly Shop award at least five times, already has 30 more Putin toys ordered, for which he is taking pre-orders, asking customers to pay a minimum of £20 each, which will all be donated to charity, plus £3.95 to cover costs if posted.
In the wider greetings community, there are other initiatives raising money to help Ukrainian refugees including Emma Ball Ltd, where owner and artist Emma Ball said: “I think most of us will have been watching the news with much sadness the past week. As a business we can feel somewhat helpless, life here is carrying on, but what can we do to help? So, we will be donating 20% of any retail orders placed on the website from Friday until Monday night (4-7 March) to the DEC Red Cross Ukraine appeal as I feel that it’s probably a good one – I’ve just worked out we’ll be sending £600.”
Emma’s print house has also stepped up with Matt Boam, director of Print 4, organising a 40ft container to be delivered to their Nottingham factory which they will fill with necessary items needed by refugees.
Matt, whose other greetings clients include The Art File and Little Dog Laughed, told PG Buzz: “We’ve already started to receive donations after I put a video out on LinkedIn only yesterday (Monday, 7 March) and, although we said we didn’t want to receive cash, some people do want to send money so we’ll be using it to buy items.
“We’ve booked a 40ft container which should be delivered by the end of next week, but we have a large factory to store everything in. And we will get it out to the Polish-Ukraine border, we’re trying to partner with some of the transport firms we work with who want to get involved.”
Items required are: Cereal, biscuits, porridge, energy bars, lentils, beans, rice, pasta, pasta sauce, tinned soup, tinned meats, tinned vegetables, tinned beans, tinned fruit, instant milk, instant pasta, instant soup, baby food, dog food, cat food, soap, liquid soap, flannels, shower gel, disinfectant, shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes, nappies, sanitary products, sterilizing tablets, bandages, plasters, new thermal hats, new thermal gloves, new thermal socks, new thermal base layers, new blankets, and rain coats.
If you’d like to help, donations need to be parcelled up marked Ukraine, and delivered to Print 4 Ltd, 7 Dabell Avenue, Blenheim Industrial Estate, Bulwell, Nottingham, NG6 8WA
And at Number 14 Ampthill, owner Jo Barber has donated 20% of her instore and online takings over the weekend to the DEC appeal plus her charity carrier bag charge pot, so that’s made a very impressive total of £2,377.49 so far, plus they’ll be adding the value of all loyalty points customers have surrendered.
“Like so many, I’ve felt completely helpless and incredibly sad watching the news unfold in Ukraine this past week,” Jo said. “There’s so little any of us can do, apart from pray for the safety of innocent civilians and help with the tremendous fundraising efforts.
“To give you an idea how much even the smallest purchase will help, here’s an example – buy a single card for £2.95 and we will donate 20% = 58p. The Government will then match that amount, meaning that one card will raise £1.16!”
“When we watch the news this evening, nothing will have changed in Ukraine, we will still shed a tear, but hopefully we will have raised a lovely donation to help provide food, water, warmth and aid.
“But what a weekend – it’s been crazy, absolutely crazy but fabulously emotionally rewarding at the same time. We truly haven’t stopped, I can’t wait to go home and put my feet up because I really, really am knackered. We’ve got the online sales, we’ve got the instore sales, and we’ve also got so many loyalty points that have been surrendered. Thank you so so so so much, we have the best customers in the whole wide world, ever!
“It dawned on me that we have never made a donation for the carrier bag charge, I think we implemented that about a year ago and were going to do a quarterly donation but everything just gets too busy sometimes, so that will be a nice little contribution too.”
Back on the animal front, fellow Most Dog-Friendly Shop winner Cardies in Stevenage is famous for The Ponks, its team of shop dogs, so owner Jo Sorrell has made the store a collection point for supplies of dog and cat food, coats, collars, leads, and towels to be transported out to the AMA Dog Rescue charity that’s based in Romania but has stepped in to help the people and animals of Ukraine.
Top: Bite me – Vladimir Putin dog chew toys are proving popular
