Dear group members, dear supporters of Il Gattaro d’Aleppo,

Since last autumn Il Gattaro has come a long way. From the hungry cats that could only be fed rice with a tiny bit of meat, from the bombed ruins of the city of Aleppo, we managed to rebuild. We now see happy cats enjoying their meal every day in a beautiful building, with protection against heat, rain and cold. We see Dr Youssef working to improve the health of our cats and dogs, and also of those animals owned by the local population.

We see refugee children just being children, playing and in our Garden of Hope.

All this is nothing short of a miracle. This group, together with Alaa, Dr Youssef and their helpers has achieved something we couldn’t even have imagined just a year ago.

Unfortunately, this all comes at a cost. Peaceful as the daily pictures may seem, Syria is still a war-torn country. Almost all goods have to be bought on the black market. Just the food for the cats costs a three figure amount every single day.

At the moment we must face that we are short of financial resources. We therefore ask your help once more as we open another fundraiser. If everyone who can donate, donates just a little, there won’t be a problem at all. We are asking all of you to help. Not by donating more than you can but by giving what you are able to contribute. That can be more for some and only a little for others.

What will the money be spent on? There are a number of causes that need urgent financing.

- first of all, there is the problem of the costs of food. As the number of cats grows, we need more and more food. Meat becomes more and more expensive. At the moment it is often difficult to find enough money to buy enough food to feed all our cats. This is a very serious problem. Moreover, we urgently need to stock up on food. At the moment there’s no food reserve and those of us who remember the siege of Aleppo, know the importance of such a reserve. War may seem far away at the moment - but it isn’t.

- money is needed just as much to buy meds for the animals. Dr Youssef can only pursue the neutering of the cats and the care for their health if we have the funds to buy meds. We also need to equip the clinic further. Because of the loan that still needs finalising we were unable to buy the scanner that Dr Youssef would like so much.

- the monkeys need a better place to stay then the cage they are in now. Alaa wants to build them a more natural and larger enclosure with more space and enrichment and trees 

- last but not least, we still need to pay back a substantial amount of money that we had to borrow to be able to pay all the bills for the construction of Ernesto’s and the Garden of Hope. These outstanding debts are a daily worry for Alaa and the team.we put here a video about our last party for orphans and disabled children last week 

So we are asking you once again to please be as generous as you can. To dig as deep as you can. All your money goes to the project, not a penny goes elsewhere and you can see what we achieve every single day. Don’t think your donation isn’t important. Don’t think your donation is too small. Don’t think that everyone else will donate.

This time we’d like to combine our new fundraiser with the start of the sale of our beautiful new calenders. If you donate 50 euro, you can ask to receive a calender and one of our new Il Gattaro stickers; 100 euro will give you the right to two calenders, an Il Gattaro sticker and an Il Gattaro tote bag Wonderful and embroidered with our logo 

Of course you can also donate these amounts without receiving these goods. Or you can donate a little ammount also 5,10,15 € will help us to finish our worh

You will then be donating a higher net amount because the costs of printing and postage. Only these costs will be taken from your donation – nothing more.