Pet gifts go down a treat

Rope toys, collars, and sewn blankets of various sizes have been donated to the Young Animal Protection Society by an unexpected part of the community.

ROPE toys, collars, leashes for cats and dogs and sewn blankets of various sizes have been donated to the Young Animal Protection Society by an unexpected part of the community.

Participants in QITE’s Work for the Dole project, which goes by the name of Threadworx, have spent the past six months creating and collecting the pet-friendly goods.

They proudly handed the fruits of their labour over to YAPS manager Carol Clifton on Friday.

YAPS Animal Refuge rescues abandoned and unwanted dogs and cats in Cairns and Looks after them until they are adopted.

YAPS also provides a dog and cattery boarding service.

QITE employment services area manager Julie Marshall said the group also donated 500kg of dog and cat food to the shelter.

“The blankets and all the toys were hand made,” she said.

“We’ve done two donations as part of this program. We really had a think about what we could do to help in the community.

“Our first donation was to Rosie’s where we donated hygiene packs. The participants made the bags and put together men’s and women’s packs for homeless people.

“In the future, we hope to help another group.”

Ms Marshall said 15 program participants worked on creating the goods and in the meantime received real world job skills such as turning up on time, interacting with different people and following instructions.

Ms Clifton said she was grateful to receive the donations.

“Food is always a great help as you can imagine. The collars, leads and toys are going to go into our going home packages,” she said.

“It’s absolutely fantastic we can offer that to people who have adopted an animal from us.

“We can’t do that on our own. We have had quite a bit of involvement with the people in the Work for the Dole project.

YAPS has a donation wish list on its website, which includes A4 paper and A4 laminating sheets, Oz Pet wooden pellets kitty litter, gazebos, hoses and hose nozzles, a 5L garden pressure sprayer and large, heavy duty garbage bags

“Every kennel is hosed every day, so we go through hoses a lot. We also need a pressure spray to clean areas with disinfectant,” Ms Clifton said.

SUPPORT: QITE Work for the Dole Broker Kavita Singh-Ram and YAPS manager Carol Clifton in front of a van full of dog and cat food. The food, as well as bedding, collars and leashes, were made and donated by Work for the Dole Threadworx Activity participants.