Helping Key Workers during this Covid-19 pandemic

15th May 2020

Over the past few weeks we received concerns from some key workers who live alone without family nearby to care for their pets. If, whilst working to support those in need, they fell ill and needed to go to hospital or, in the worst case, died what would become of their beloved pet? We were asked if we could help?

At this time, our key workers need to be able to concentrate on using their energy to help our community and so the team started discussions to see what we could do. Oak Tree already runs “A Helping Paw” programme for those fleeing domestic violence or those who are homeless and so it was logical to extend this to provide support for key workers. This service provides up to 6 months fostering for pets while their owners get back on their feet.

We also needed to consider what support we could offer to keyworkers should the worst happen, and they do not survive an infection. The team felt that our ‘Pet Guardianship Support Scheme’ would provide some comfort for owners who have no options to rehome their pets with family and friends in the event of death. In this programme, owners can apply to Oak Tree to accept their pets after their death knowing that the Charity will help them find a new loving home.

We proposed this to the keyworkers who were relieved to hear that they had an option to enable them to go to work without fear for their pet’s welfare.

Thank you to all our supporters who enable us to support our keyworkers at this time.