Employees from Barratt Developments North East donated their time at Newcastle Dog and Cat Shelter this week to help prepare the centre for its reopening.
Five members of staff swapped their desk view for dogs and volunteered their services at the shelter’s rehoming centre in Benton. The team spent the day gardening, painting and cleaning the kennels and were treated to a playtime session with the resident puppies to reward their efforts.
Newcastle Dog and Cat Shelter closed its Benton rehoming centre in April 2020 as a response to increasing cases of COVID-19 in order to protect its animals. Set up in 1896, the shelter helps thousands of lost and abandoned animals across the North East from its two shelters in Newcastle. Dedicated to promoting kindness and preventing animal cruelty, it has recently reopened for corporate volunteering days, with Barratt Developments being the first organisation through the doors.
The corporate volunteering comes as part of Barratt Developments North East’s ‘Donate a Day’ programme, and the visit to Newcastle Dog and Cat Shelter follows the housebuilder’s position in the top 30 UK Best Places to Work in 2022 by Glassdoor. The initiative encourages employees to pledge two fully paid days of volunteering to a local cause each year, which plays a part in ensuring the housebuilder continues to support the communities in which it builds.
Events and Corporate Coordinator, Brogan Baggott said: “We’re really grateful to the team at Barratt for helping us tidy the site prior to reopening. As a nonprofit organisation it’s really key that we make the most of the volunteering opportunities that present us and it’s wonderful to have the support of a large company like Barratt through its ‘Donate a Day’ programme. We’re hugely appreciative of the efforts of the team and hope they enjoyed their day.”
Matt Pattinson, Marketing Coordinator at Barratt Developments North East said: “We really loved helping out at Newcastle Dog and Cat shelter. A lot of us have pets and it’s heartbreaking to think there are some who lose their home or don’t have a loving owner.
“It was also really great for us to get away from the office and do something different from our routine! We’re thankful to the shelter for allowing us to come and meet their animals and we hope our work has made a difference”.
For more information about Newcastle Dog and Cat Shelter, visit: www.dogandcatshelter.com
For more information about Barratt Developments, visit: www.barrattdevelopments.co.uk
