National Animal Welfare Trust – WE NEED YOU
The National Animal Welfare Trust (NAWT) is a rescue and rehoming charity, working towards a future where every pet thrives in a loving home. Our roots can be traced back to 1958, although we were founded in 1971 as an independent charity and were originally known as Animal Welfare Trust. The word national was added in 1996 as part of our 25th Anniversary celebrations.
We have grown quite considerably since our early days and are excited to say we now have five rehoming centres and five charity shops. Our rehoming centres are based in:
- Aspley Guise in Bedfordshire
- Trindledown Farm in Berkshire
- Wheal Alfred near Hayle in Cornwall
- Little Clacton in Essex
- Watford in Hertfordshire
All our centres are extremely busy places! We have accommodation to care for and rehome cats, dogs, rabbits and guinea pigs, and look after a variety of other animals dependent on the facilities at each centre; they are all very different. We also support several local authorities in helping with stray and abandoned animals and help even more homeless pets through our home direct scheme, allowing us to offer our valuable rehoming service without admitting the pet into our centres.
Supporting the centre operations are an amazing network of short-term foster carers and our Pet Care in the Community volunteers, who assist owners in our local communities to look after their pets, allowing them to stay in their own homes instead of being relinquished.
Our Charity Shops are based in:
- Woburn Sands, Bedfordshire
- Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire
- Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire
- Watford in Hertfordshire
- Hayle in Cornwall
Supporting our physical presence, we have an on-line shop selling cards and other lovely gifts and an eBay shop which sells our donated items.
Our high street charity shops are busy and friendly environments at the heart of their communities. Their primary purpose is to make as much money as possible for NAWTs work rescuing and rehoming unwanted animals, whilst raising awareness of NAWT in the local community.
NAWT volunteers can be found throughout our centres and shops in varying roles and without this generous support, we would not be able to carry out our work.
In our centres, we have volunteers looking after our Dogs, Cats and Smalls (also known as rabbits and guinea pigs!) including Maintenance, Gardening, Admin, Reception and not forgetting our fosterers of course. Volunteers also help with fundraising activities and organising events.
In our shops, volunteers will help our managers to maximise the sale of donated stock by serving customers, sorting donations, steaming, tagging, hanging, selling, window dressing and ensuring our customers have an amazing shopping experience overall. Knowing that every penny raised goes towards helping animals in our care is a real morale booster. Our shops work closely with their local rehoming centre, and some of our shop volunteers also volunteer at their local centre.
We welcome every volunteer with open arms by ensuring they have a thorough induction to the charity, role and team they are in, with full training provided.
It goes without saying we are looking for more amazing volunteers to join our team; both centre and retail, so if you would like to find out more please do take a look at our website, www.nawt.org.uk, or alternatively, email l.wood@nawt.org.uk who will be able to answer any questions you may have and point you in the right direction
