Smart Pups needs $735,000 by the end of the month to secure new, larger premises on the Sunshine Coast and continue supplying assistance dogs to children with special needs.
Smart Pups chief executive officer Janelle Denny said the pressure was on to ensure the future of the charity that began on the Coast in 2011 and they needed $600,000, plus GST of $135,000, by June 30.
“With only a couple of weeks left, we’re worried that we won’t make our fundraising total,” she said.
“With our waiting list at full capacity, our clients are currently waiting two years to receive a Smart Pup. Our goal is to reduce this wait time down to just six months.
“Currently $51,000 has been donated from 12 generous people. We had a fundraising lunch last month that raised $100,000, the Queensland Government has made a one-off charitable contribution of $500,000 and we have a further $52,000 of unfulfilled pledges, so there’s currently still a $84,000 shortfall.”
The charity must leave its Pinbarren premises and has found a Verrierdale property that is a purpose-built dog training facility and already has training yards and kennel areas ready to walk straight into.
“It’s the perfect location for us,” Mrs Denny said.
“However, it comes with a hefty price tag and we’re asking all our supporters to dig deep to help us reach our fundraising total before June 30.”
Since 2011, the Sunshine Coast-based charity has provided 270 assistance dogs to children with special needs. Smart Pups trains autism service dogs, seizure response dogs and multi-purpose assistance dogs to help children with day-to-day routines, activities and events.
“From those early days, the demand for our trained assistance dogs has grown so much that we always have more requests than puppies available,” Mrs Denny said.
“The vision is to have a world-class training facility at Verrierdale where we will be able to expand to meet this need and raise and train up to 60 puppies a year which goes such a long way to meeting the need of young children around Australia.”
The Verrierdale property is 50 acres with a purpose-built dog training facility that will suit our needs and accommodate our growth into the future.
The Centre’s design has drawn on international expertise and the world-class facility will include:
• Air conditioned kennel block filled with the latest creature comforts.
• Huge state of the art indoor training facility, fully air conditioned.
• Recreation areas where dogs can run free and socialise.
• An administration building.
• A grooming room to pamper the Smart Pups.
• A caretaker’s residence.
• Room to grow and have a veterinary clinic and state-of-the-art breeding facility.
If you would like to discuss contributing to the capital campaign and are from a corporate or private funding body, please contact the Smart Pups team at enquiries@smartpups.org.au
Donations can be made via the website, smartpups.org.au/events-and-fundraising/donate-to-our-future/
