Irene Allan - gone but never forgotten xxx
Irene Allan, our co-founder of Hope For Podencos sadly passed away unexpectedly on Monday 17th August 2020. Irene was an incredible woman who had a love for the Podencos like no other and committed the last 10 years of her life to rescuing and rehoming these beautiful dogs in need.
We could use all the words under the sun and never describe Irene: she was larger than life and would only tell us off for getting it wrong anyway! But here we go…
She was wonderful - strong, kind, passionate, giving, inspirational, beautiful on the inside and out. But she was also a loving wife and partner in crime to her fellow co-founder Steve Allan.
We, Steve and the Hope For Podencos team, wanted to let everyone know that Hope For Podencos will continue. We know it will never be the same for us or any of our community. But we are as committed as ever. Steve made a promise to Irene to keep the centre going and keep fighting the good fight for all the Podencos, and he intends to keep it!
So here are some quick updates on how we are trying to pick ourselves back up -
ADOPTIONS
Adoptions will start again from September 2020: as many of you will have been following, Irene had re-homed a fair few Podencos in recent months. But Steve has continued taking in rescues and we have some new Podencos we will be uploading shortly to the website. That being said, we still have some Podencos with us that keep getting overlooked and these will be getting some heavy social love as we start up again.
WEB SHOP AND SPONSORSHIP PACKS
We are packaging all of our orders purchased in July and August 2020 on Monday 31st August for the postman to collect the next day. Apologies for the delay on these items, travel and quarantine for the centre has hit our website team.
-Please note if you have ordered a pin badge we are still waiting on these to arrive but will send an update shortly.
CALENDAR COMPETITION
We may be late in announcing our winners, but we have not forgotten! We will be sharing the competition results on Monday 7th September 2020. We have asked our wonderful centre team - Vanessa and Bea to step in to be the judges with Steve. We are not sure if everyone has seen, but the amazing Caroline Strecker, one of our long term volunteers gave birth to a beautiful baby boy on the day of Irene’s service, so she now has her hands a little full! A wonderful addition to the HFP family, welcome Stanley, our little ray of sunshine!
VOLUNTEERS AT THE CENTRE
Volunteering is still on hold until 2021. In the meantime we will be requesting support from the extended Hope For Podencos family to come and work with Steve at the centre to help complete projects and gear the centre up for being run by one person, our wonderful boss man Steve!
FUNDRAISING
We do have a number of fundraisers that are currently running on behalf of Irene for the charity by our community - thank you so much for your support everyone, it means the world!
We will also be running a few ourselves. We have a lot of Podencos requiring surgery as shown on the website - Rocky, Riki, Pipo, Lighero. We also have new Podenco arrivals coming in that will need health checks and possible treatment. Finally, we will have some projects coming up as we continue to improve the centre.
If you would prefer to make a one off donation, you can do so by clicking on the DONATE button below. You can also add a message for Steve if you would like as this collection is unique for Irene.
There are other ways you can donate by clicking the links below.
Steve and the team would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has raised funds, continued to share awareness for Podencos and for the many messages of kindness and support received. We have lost our matriach but she gives us the strength to continue, to know she was loved and respected by so many people around the world is empowering.
Irene passed while living her best life with her partner Steve by her side doing what she loved. Let’s all take a moment to remember her as she was - a force to be reckoned with!
Together we are stronger - Steve and the HFP team xxx