Westbourne man’s DoggyLottery raises £10,000 in 6 months for struggling animal rescue shelters

Animal lover Lee Brown has teamed up with his cousin Lisette van Riel to raise more than £10,000 in support of animal charities across the UK.

The retired businessman went up to Yorkshire to visit Lisette, who had lost her job due to the pandemic, and discovered she had been researching the struggles faced by shelters during this time.

Lee and Lisette decided to join forces and launched DoggyLottery in July 2020, hoping to raise funds for charity while also educating people on responsible dog ownership and adoption.

Lee, 50, said: “They desperately need funding. They’re in dire need because they have no government backing.

“Their other forms of fundraising through their charity shops and open days are scuppered right now. They can’t raise funding other than the supporters they have donating to them.

“We didn’t just want to raise money, we wanted to raise awareness as to why you should choose a rescue dog.

“It’s quite close to an awful lot of people’s hearts. I think a lot of people are dog lovers.”

This issue is particularly close to Lee’s heart, as his Staffordshire bull terrier Milo, 10, is anxious around other dogs and may well have ended up in a rescue centre if his owners were less patient.

Lee added: “He could have been a problem dog, but we stuck with him and he is lovely. As a family, we just love dogs.”

DoggyLottery tickets cost £1.50 and each month sees the lottery partner with five dog rescue centres which will share in 60 per cent of the ticket sales.

The prize fund is made up of 30 per cent of the ticket sales, and players can use their entry to vote for one of the featured dogs.

Lee said: “It’s been brilliant. Month on month it’s got better and better, each campaign we have been on has grown more and more.

“It takes a lot of my time finding the rescue centres, so it would be lovely if they would come to us. We’re actively searching for rescue centres that are in need.”

Visit doggylottery.co.uk for more information or to nominate a charity.

---

A message from the Editor, Gary Shipton:

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news, I am asking you to please purchase a copy of our newspapers.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspapers.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

Stay safe, and best wishes.