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~ Tara Wheeler - R.A.T.S. Fundraising Autograph Website ~ During January 2008 I was approached, via email, by a young lady named Tara who presented me with a very novel idea for raising money for R.A.T.S. During May 2006 Tara and her family adopted one of our cats – named Marshmellow. On adoption Marshmellow had been renamed as Sulley. Tara told me: “Sulley has changed my life as he was my first cat and I spend most of my time with him. He is very bold and friendly (although he was frightened to start with) and has taken over the house, some of our family friends come round our house just to see him! He has changed so much since I first remember seeing him at the RATS home and now I would love to help the other animals get good, loving homes.”
Sulley She added: “I think the work you do is fantastic and would like to support you by doing some fundraising.” Tara is 16 years old and due to take her GCSE Examinations during 2008. But besides this she is also an avid autograph collector and has been collecting autographs for around two years. Tara belongs to two autograph websites and mainly collects by writing letters and receiving them through the post. However, she has met a few celebrities when they have been out and about – for example Tom Baker (Dr Who) who was very nice and friendly!
Tara Wheeler
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contacts |
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. . . . . Dogs: Pauline: . . . . . 01462 834458 |
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. . . Cats & Kittens: Liz: . . . 01767 681157 |
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. . Small Mammals: Hazel: . . 01234 357788 |
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. . Lost & Found: Linda: . . 01234 822877 |
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Her idea to help raise money was to continue collecting autographs but instead of keeping them for herself she had decided that she could auction them off on e-bay and give the money raised to R.A.T.S. She would, of course, make sure that all of the autographs were authentic before selling them. Tara wanted to know if this would be ok with us. I had a look at her website (www.tara-uk.piczo.com) and was very impressed with what I saw. And the rest, as they say, is history…
I accepted Tara’s kind offer and since then she has been busy mailing celebrities – with several successes. So far Tara has obtained autographs from: David Tennant (the present Dr Who – also very well known for his role of Casanova), Robert Glenister, Derek Jacobi, the great David Jason and another Dr Who: Colin Baker. Of course as Tara is under 18 she could not officially deal with money but her mother has kindly agreed to help her with this side of things and I am in the process of trying to set up a ‘Missionfish’ account, which is a special account on e-bay especially designed for Charities.
Another way of assisting Tara was to link this R.A.T.S. site to the autograph site she had set up. This has been done and you can visit Tara’s R.A.T.S. Fundraising Autograph Website at : www.taras-rats-fundraising.piczo.com. Hopefully this will help encourage as many visitors as possible to both sites. All that remains is to thank Tara very much for all of her hard work and to wish her every success – not only with the autograph collecting but also with her forthcoming GCSEs. I will, naturally, keep you all updated with her success.
Philippa Exley - R.A.T.S. Secretary - February 2008
The Re-homing Animal Telephone Service is registered under The Charities Act 1960 No 803364