Local animal lovers help out charities

St Columb’s Animal Rescue and Rehoming (SCARR), Pet FBI, and Foyle Wildlife Rescue have all benefited from the kind initiative, which only began three months ago, in June.

Jollyes manager, Patrick Mellon told the Journal they were delighted with the support from the customers, as were the local animal charities, who do ‘brilliant’ work around the North West.

Patrick said the company regularly offers a discounted charity line and those in the store looked at which charities each line would suit best.

Customers are then asked if they would like to donate to charity, for example £1, and this money then purchases the food, which is donated to local charities.

The company itself also donates tins of food and discussions are ongoing as to where these will be directed to.

The Derry store also helped out Wild Ireland in Burnfoot, which was forced to close its doors due to the coronavirus pandemic. It reopened recently.

Patrick told how Killian McLaughlin, who runs Wild Ireland and has been involved in animal rescue for many years, is a regular customer of Jollyes.

While Wild Ireland was closed, all the animals, which include bears and wolves, still needed to be fed and cared for and Jollyes wanted to support Killian. Customers also donated to Wild Ireland and the sanctuary was gifted food for the animals.

Patrick and the staff at Jollyes were keen to credit all their customers for their ‘brilliant’ support.