Our journey begins

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​It's New Years Day in 2017, and it seemed like a fitting day for this first blog for Paws for A Purpose, though our journey actually started almost 12 months to the day, with an idea. It’s crazy to think that it’s taken this long, to come this small step, but at the same time, a lot has happened in the last 12 months and we have big goals for this year ahead…
 
 
I’m not going to recap what Paws for A Purpose is about, you can find this here and here.
 
 
Today I want to share a bit of our journey so far and where we are heading in the year to come. If you are interested then I invite you to learn a bit about our beginnings and why we’ve started this crazy project…
 
 
The idea for Paws for A Purpose came from a gap that we saw, trying to help pets in need, and people-with-pets, in need.
 
 
As a veterinarian, I have a bit of experience with trying to solve some of the problems facing pets in society, and discovered that there is a significant lack of funding and a lack of strategic direction from any area, for a lot of the issues facing our pets in today’s world.
 
 
It’s perhaps one of the reasons that a lot of things haven’t changed despite a lot of advances in science and the incredible resources that could be available to fix the problems that pet-owners, and pets face.
 
 
Pets are family, and give unconditional love without judgement. They can be life-saving or life-changing and help inspire people to live their lives to the full, or to change their lives for the better. For just one example of this, check out the book, A Street Cat Named Bob, which has also recently been made into a movie. I’ve read the book and loved it, and I think the movie is to be released in Australia shortly (maybe it has been by the time you read this).
 
 
The problem is that despite our knowledge that pets are good for people, a lot of people in need still struggle to look after their pets. Many people face the prospect of having to put themselves in a worse situation - like sleeping on the street, or forgoing food or other necessities, just to try and keep their pets who may be their closest companions. And without their pets, people just give up. I’ve seen it first hand and it’s a terribly sad situation to witness.
 
 
And even in today’s Australia - a first-world-country by any standards - in disadvantaged areas across the nation, communicable pet diseases continue to infect and kill thousands of pets, and there is very little actively being done to fix these problems.
 
 
We want to make a difference. We want to make a change. So we are setting about to try and change the world for pets and people for the better.
 
 
We started Paws for A Purpose as a social enterprise organisation dedicated to helping pets and people in need. As an organisation, we raise money for projects that will help the lives of pets, and people with pets, who are in need of help. We are a registered charity and 100% of our money raised, after our costs, goes to our charitable purpose.
 
 
As I write this, we are just launching our first product into the market, which is a dog treat, called our Premium Beef Treat, which is 100% Australian Beef, with no preservatives or additives, and from sales of this product we are funding the first of our life-saving projects. In fact, if you are interested you can buy it online here.
 
 
One of our first projects is to help try and reduce Canine Parvovirus, or eventually maybe even lead to the eradication of this disease. “Parvo” as it is commonly known, is a devastating virus that kills puppies and breaks families hearts across our nation. How we are helping is by funding the vaccines needed for a scientific research-and-prevention project being conducted through University of Sydney. This is a project that I’ve initiated because it needed to be done by someone and it’s something I know a bit about.
 
 
Once the project gets underway, the need for funding for vaccines will be considerable. We are soon to identify all the areas across Australia that the disease reaches and once we know this better we’ll have a greater idea of the extent of our job. To try and vaccinate all the pups that are not being protected, and are spreading the disease will be a big task, but if we are successful then we can stop puppies being infected, and prevent the suffering that also occurs. More on this soon!
 
 
The other initial area we and helping is to help fund Pets In The Park, another charity that helps the homeless to care for their pets. This is also a charity that I know something about, I’ve volunteered for them as a vet for a few years now (they are a young charity nonetheless) and I became a co-director of this organisation a couple of years ago too - so I am very aware of the great work that they do. I encourage anyone interested to check them out as well.
 
 
It was through getting to know about these kinds of issues and need there is for the solutions to be resourced, that the vision for Paws for A Purpose as a social enterprise was sown.
 
 
And then mid-last year after much pre-work had been done, I was able to bring on board two other directors: a very-like-minded veterinary colleague, Dr Michael O’Donoghue and my awesome girlfriend, Tessa Biddles (who unsurprisingly also shares our same values around pets, human welfare, charities and giving), and Paws for A Purpose Ltd - the social enterprise - was officially born. And thanks to the help from a small but great team of other volunteers as well, we are starting to make some good forward progress...
 
 
So having had germinated the seed of Paws for A Purpose, now we embark on the next stage for our organisation: (1) the launch of our first product; (2) engaging people to join us in helping to fulfil our mission; and (3) our first big project - trying to help reduce Canine Parvovirus and save the lives of puppies across Australia.
 
 
And we will have more on this all soon…
 
 
And if you feel you can help us in any way, or if you know of someone who might be interested to sell our Premium Beef Treats, please reach out to us and let us know!
 

Thanks for being part of our journey.
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Talk soon.
 
 
Dr Mark Kelman
Co-founder, Paws for A Purpose