Charity – Supporting the Blue Cross
As my charity work, I chose the Blue Cross because I adopted my cat from there. I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to visit the centre and learn about what they do and how they run it. I also was able to meet some of the cats and kittens there, as you can see from the photos.
Across the whole country, the Blue Cross has 12 rehoming centres and unlike the one in Torquay, some of the other centres hold dogs too so they have kennels. In the rehoming centre in Torquay, they only hold cats and they have 12 pens in one block and 15 pens in the other. Also (in the one in Torquay ) they have the isolation block for ill or nervous animals which has 3 pens and also the centre has a vets room which is pretty self explanatory.
Now some information about how they run the centre: in order to adopt an animal from The Blue Cross, they do a thing called the matching process which is where they see where you live, (for example if you live on a main road they wouldn’t allow you to adopt a cat that is quite adventurous as it wouldn’t be safe) whether you are suitable for the animal, (for example if there was a cat that was deadly scared of men then it wouldn’t be a good idea to pair it up with a man) also whether the environment is suitable for the animal (for example if you had a cat which didn’t like children or other animals, then you wouldn’t be allowed to adopt the pet if you have children or other animals). Aswell as this, they try to match you with the sort of cat that you would like (for example a kitten or and older cat, a boy or a girl, a lap cat or a cat that doesn’t need as much attention).
This process has been put in place to ensure that the cat paired with its owner for life and won’t get attached to a home then be put up for adoption again. Also the Blue Cross has an education team which goes into schools and teaches children on how to be wise with animals and how to treat them right. Next, the Blue Cross has a foster home system where the cats can get fostered ( a foster home is where somebody temporarily takes in and looks after one of the cats).
The foster home system was set up due to the fact that some cats struggle and don’t work well with catery life and can sometimes shut down, meaning they don’t eat, go to the toilet or even come out of the little place that they have as their hiding spot. Also over the past few years, the Blue Cross has been really encouraging foster homes and doing a big push for them.
On similar lines to foster homes, is volunteering; the Blue Cross has really pushed for volunteering as it gives the animals a sense of love knowing that they will see a person regularly to play with them and stroke them and just sit with them.Iin case you didn’t know, volunteering is where somebody signs up and sits in for an hour or two regularly just to play and stroke and look after the cats for free, even though the Blue Cross obviously has staff, it is always good to have more people that the cats don’t associate with taking them to the vets or doing things that they don’t like to them.
Now just some random facts about the Blue Cross:
- The Blue Cross shaves the sides of cat’s bodies when they first come in to see if they are spayed.
- Black cats usually stay in the centre for longer as people think they are bad luck and they don’t photograph well.
- Fluffy and long-haired cats stay in the centre for longer as they are harder to maintain and more expensive and messy due to the amount of fur that they have.
- Older cats also stay in the centre for longer as most people are looking for kittens to adopt.
- The Blue Cross regularly does big fundraisers like bake sales or craft sales to raise money for vet equipment, cat food and toys.
Citizenship in the School Community
As part of my active citizenship in my school community, I spent one of my lunchtime every week to read with a year two child to help them with their reading and to
improve their confidence with different people.
Citizenship in the Local Community
As part of my active citizenship in my local community I have been going out shopping for my neighbour during quarantine because she is unable to leave her house as she is at a high risk of infection since she has cancer.
Active Hobby
For my physical hobby I chose Netball. I have been in netball club since the start of year five and have continued it throughout year six. In year five I played in a few friendly matched against Sherwell Valley in the B team and when I went to year six I played in a few on the A team.
Also in year six I attended two competitions at Paignton community college and in the second one our team won first place and returned with the shield.
Non-Active Hobby
As part of my nonactive hobby I have recently started doing a lot of baking; I have mainly baked Victoria sponge cake, but I have also baked loads of other things uch as brownies, cupcakes, chocolate cake and more.
Residential
