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www.icenimagazine.co.uk
Issue 89 2020
New Life And New Hope At Minidonk HQ
Miniature Donkeys for Wellbeing (Minidonks), a Norfolk-based social enterprise which delivers mood-boosting miniature donkey visits across the region, has been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, losing over £30,000 of income since lockdown in March. But now there is new hope, and a new life to celebrate at Minidonk HQ. Founder and Managing Director of Minidonks, Sarah McPherson, explains, “One of our Minidonks, Saffy, was pregnant, and held on to her baby for the full 13 months of her term. We were so relieved when she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy donkey on 1st August. After a bit of a rocky start, mum and baby are now doing very well. When he was born we nicknamed him Little Jack Rabbit, because he was so small, with these huge ears, and beautiful brown/grey coat, and the name has just stuck. He will be a huge hit with people when we can resume our wellbeing visits for people with life limiting conditions.” “And the news just gets better. After being turned away from many funding sources because they were just completely oversubscribed, we are delighted to hear that South Norfolk Council are making us a grant of £5,000. We
cannot thank South Norfolk Council enough, and this funding will ensure that we will be able to survive, source suitable PPE and retrain all our volunteers in covid-safe working practices.” People can support Mindonks by sponsoring their new donkey Jack. All details can be found on their website, www.minidonks.org.uk Miniature Donkeys for Wellbeing Ltd (Minidonks) is a social enterprise (not for profit) that provides therapeutic visits by miniature donkeys to people in a wide range of settings. They take their donkeys to care homes, hospitals, psychiatric units, dementia groups, special schools, youth groups, autism groups and more. They have delivered over 350 visits across Norfolk and Suffolk since their foundation in April 2017. The motivation for setting up the enterprise was the founder’s experience of both her parents developing dementia and benefitting from interacting with the donkeys. www.minidonks.org.uk FB @minidonks.org PAGE
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