ANIMAL LOVER RECEIVES MBE FOR CHARITY EFFORTS
Acivil servant from Nottinghamshire has been awarded an MBE in the Queen’s birthday honours for services to charities after she established a new directory for animal organisations.
When the first national lockdown struck in 2020,Val Green saw her local animal rescues' pleas on social media — the small organisations had lost their volunteers and their fundraising ability overnight.Val wanted to help and gathered a small team of volunteers and the group launched One Voice for Animals UK on April 24, 2020.The group set up www.helpanimals. co.uk, a directory that has quickly grown to encompass over 300 animal organisations across the UK, caring for around 22,000 animals between them.
The website’s aim is to enable the public to easily find and support rescues near them, be that with a financial donation, items such as newspapers to line cages, or help running social media pages.
Along with twice-yearly fundraising auctions, the group has set up donation pages that have raised over £65,000.
Val’s dedication to the cause led to her partially retiring from her job at HMRC. She said:“I am so moved and overwhelmed by this award.Though it isn’t due to just to my efforts; it’s the hard work that the volunteer team puts in, the efforts of the people running the rescues themselves, and the generous donations of lots for our auctions. It’s about all the people who care about animals, and I’d like to recognise that and thank them.”