Raising money with the hope to end rabies

Donations of all sorts power a charity like GARC: grants awarded to fund specific projects on the ground in Africa or Asia; mechanisms that allow discounted rates for charities; in-kind support in the form of a rabies expert’s time; the loan of a meeting venue; a volunteer’s time translating our resources; or straightforward cash donations. GARC tries very hard to make every donation we receive stretch as far as possible towards our mission of an end to the suffering that rabies causes.

As the year closes, GARC would like to extend a special thanks to all of our individual donors and fundraisers who have supported us in 2017. We are always grateful for your support and we love to hear about the personal or professional connections that motivate you to support our mission. Over the years, we have been inspired by all those who have run, hiked, biked, baked or sailed to raise money to support GARC’s goal to end rabies. In particular, we wanted to recognize two supporters from the UK who set themselves remarkable challenges and used the JustGiving fundraising platform, each raising several hundred pounds for GARC this year.

In July, Ruth Gregory  climbed Mount Snowden in Wales in the dark. Her efforts were in memory of a friend, Harriet Stewart, who lost her battle with thyroid cancer earlier in the year. Harriet had lived her life to the fullest, travelling the world and climbing the highest mountains, always with a smile on her face, and Ruth clearly wanted those memories of her to live on. Despite a fall causing some discomfort, Ruth persisted with the climb and reached the summit at 4am just as dawn broke.

 

In August, Phil West, a freelance graphic designer who has worked with GARC  over the last few years and is an avid amateur cyclist, tasked himself with an incredibly arduous challenge – to cycle from his home in the UK to Asia, camping along the way. Phil was inspired to choose GARC as he wanted to give something back, and felt that our charity’s mission was in keeping with the trip, especially as rabies and feral dogs were a big problem in the countries he cycled through.  The ”West goes East” route took Phil through Western, Eastern and Southern Europe experiencing spectacular scenery, heat, cold, mountains, and more than one angry dog chase. Weighing a little less than when he set off, he finally made it to Asia when he crossed the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul, Turkey. Two months to the day and with 3,181 miles cycled through 19 countries behind him, it was certainly time to celebrate!

We are so grateful to these two adventurous people, to those who sponsored them, and to all of our other donors who help support our work through donations large and small. We promise to make every donation go as far as we possibly can towards reaching an end to the tragedy of rabies.

Written by Louise Taylor, GARC. You can still make a donation to Ruth’s or to Phil’s fundraising pages, or you could contribute to GARC’s year-end campaign to raise funds to print bite prevention booklets for children in Zimbabwe.