Somerset animal rescue, rehabilitation and rehoming charity, Ferne Animal Sanctuary, today launches its Winter Welfare campaign for the Big Give Christmas Challenge 2024.
 
The Big Give Christmas Challenge operates annually, matching donations to charities across the UK by doubling all funds donated to the charity of choice. For Ferne Animal Sanctuary, the Winter months and Christmas period will strain resources and available funds.
 
Ferne Animal Sanctuary has received a promised £4,000 in pledges for this year’s Big Give Christmas Challenge, with the support of its Big Give Champion, The Reed Foundation, pledging a further £2,000 for the charity. To receive the £6,000 in pledged funds, Ferne Animal Sanctuary must raise an additional £6,000 in one week, from 12pm on Tuesday 3 December to 12pm on Tuesday 10 December. To receive the matched funds from the pledges, online donations need to be made directly to Big Give Christmas Challenge via Ferne’s Winter Welfare campaign page.
 
2024 has been the most challenging year to date for the 85-year-old charity; Ferne Animal Sanctuary launched its Urgent Appeal in the Spring to help them through an unprecedented financial downturn and raise essential funds to ensure the charity could continue operating.
 
The sanctuary, which homes over 300 animals at a time, are preparing for the further challenges that Winter brings. With the support of the local community, Ferne Animal Sanctuary has one week to raise donations for its online Winter Welfare campaign, in order to receive the pledged funds matched by Big Give Christmas Challenge, of £6,000 – a potential total of £12,000 – which would make a life-changing difference to the animals in need.
 
Kevan Hodges, Chief Executive Officer at Ferne Animal Sanctuary, comments, "We are incredibly grateful for the support of our local community this year, which has been a testing time for us at the sanctuary. 
 
“The Winter Welfare campaign provides the unique opportunity to double all donations from 3 to 10 December 2024 via the Big Give Christmas Challenge, which will make a life-saving difference to continue providing welfare and care to the more than 300 vulnerable animals we home currently. Please donate if you can; any donation, big or small, not only will be doubled from our pledged pot of funds but will make a massive difference to us and our animals in need. Thank you - from all of us here at Ferne Animal Sanctuary.”
 
Donations raised for Ferne Animal Sanctuary’s Winter Welfare campaign will change the lives of unwanted and abandoned animals. With support of the community and donors, the potential pledge funds from Big Give Christmas Challenge, if the £6,000 in online donations is met, would help ensure the charity’s stability throughout the upcoming Winter months.
 
To offer support to more than 300 animals at Ferne Animal Sanctuary this Christmas, please give here:https://donate.biggive.org/campaign/a056900002TPUqtAAH
 
Ferne Animal Sanctuary is one of the oldest animal charities in the UK. Founded by Lady Nina, Duchess of Hamilton and Brandon, The Ferne Estate located on the Wiltshire Dorset border started taking in animals in 1939 at the outbreak of World War 2. Ferne became a registered charity in 1965 and relocated from Wiltshire to form Ferne Animal Sanctuary in Somerset in 1975. Throughout the past eighty-five years, Ferne has rescued, rehabilitated, or rehomed circa 40,000 animals. There are always approximately 300 animals on the 72-acre sanctuary, and another 200-250 animals are successfully rehomed each year.
 
For more information about Ferne Animal Sanctuary, please visit www.ferneanimalsanctuary.org
To find out more about the Big Give Christmas Challenge, please visit www.biggive.org/christmas-challenge