Story
<p><strong>SAVE OUR STRAYS - GIVE THEM HOPE</strong></p>
<p><strong>We did it .... I finished the Marathon and your kindness has raised over a £1,000 for Hope Rescue.</strong></p>
<p><strong>I finished the course in 3:49:05 which isn't too bad for a first effort.<a></a></strong></p>
<p><strong>Thankyou all so very much for your kind donations they will make a massive difference to the work Hope undertake and save many dogs lives ... !</strong> </p>
<p>I was lucky to find Hope Rescue, almost by chance whilst looking for a four legged friend to adopt as part of our family.</p>
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<p>After finding the Hope Rescue website <a href="http://www.hoperescue.org.uk/">http://www.hoperescue.org.uk/</a> and then looking on their forum <a href="http://hope-rescue.proboards.com/index.cgi">http://hope-rescue.proboards.com/index.cgi</a> we found out about the amazing work Hope Rescue undertake.</p>
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<p>It didn't take long for us to find the information about the handsome chap you see in the main site picture, ( looking shall we say .... not very happy in Newport Dog Pound ) and after reading his story and all the information given by his Foster Mum, we decided that he was the missing part of our family jigsaw puzzle. Happy picures of Buddy now added ... !!</p>
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<p>After a thorough home check carried out by a Hope volunteer we were able to adopt Buddy and give him the forever home he deserves.</p>
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<p>Hope Rescue work hard to raise the funds required to care for the dogs that come into a number of dog pounds in Wales, they arrive as strays or sometimes as surrender cases, very often these dogs require veterinary treatment and time in boarding kennels until a foster home is found, then once an assessment period is completed they can be offerred for adoption.</p>
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<p>Hope Rescue is run by volunteers who give up their time free of charge ensuring that the available funds are spent providing for the dogs in their care. These dogs have very often sufferred neglect and sometimes abuse at the hand of their human 'masters' and therefore need lots of time, care and love in order for them to trust people again.</p>
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<p>I am so proud to be running in the London Marathon on behalf of Hope Rescue, to try in my own small way to raise valuable funds to help care for the large number of dogs that Hope Rescue are saving and helping everyday.</p>
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<p>Thankyou so much for caring and donating in these troubled times ....</p>
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<p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>' If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you - that is the principal difference between a dog and a man.</strong>' <strong><span style="color: #666600;">- Mark Twain</span></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="color: #666600;">I think Mr Twain may have hit the nail on the head .... !!</span></strong></span></p>
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<p><strong>Please give what you can, every penny you donate will go to initially saving and then caring for dogs that need our help .... Please ..... ' Give them Hope '</strong></p>
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