A FALMOUTH family have set up a spook-tacular fundraiser for a Cornwall animal charity.
Jo Phelps, 51-year-old dog groomer, has set up a frighteningly festive fundraiser in her front garden for Halloween in order to raise money for The Last Chance Hotel - a Cornwall-based charity that works to rehome and rehabilitate abused and neglected dogs, as well as other animals.
Jo explained that the decorations were a fun way to raise some money for a good cause as part of her annual Halloween decorations.
Jo told The Packet: "We've always done a display for Halloween for the last 13 years, we've had parties since the kids were little.
"We normally put it up just before Halloween, I shut my business down to get ready for the party, and this year, post-pandemic and everything, we were just thinking 'let's just go mad, let's put it up for the whole month and lets see if we can raise some money for a local charity.'
"So that's what we've done."
So far, Jo's Halloween fundraiser has raised almost £280 in donations.
Jo continued: "It's had an amazing response from the locals, I think it's brought a lot of joy to people.
"I've got some money to put into the account as it's door donations, but we're nearly at £280, which is amazing!
"We plan to have a bucket out at the party and then maybe get some more donations from trick or treaters, we go mad for trick or treat night.
"It's massive, we dress up again and just have an absolute whale of a time.
"It's just something that we've loved as a family, ever since the kids were little, and the kids are older now but we're still passionate about it, we love getting everybody together.
"If we can combine that this year with a fundraiser, which we have, and now that's it, we're going to do it every year.
Choosing which charity to raise money for was a no-brainer for Jo, who is a dog groomer herself.
"As a dog groomer, it made total sense to raise money for a dog charity this year, I've got a few dogs that come to me for grooming from the Last Chance Hotel and that gives me a lot of passion for it.
"To see these dogs being given a second chance, some of them are really old, and they got longevity out of it.
"I just think what they do at that charity is amazing and, as a small charity, they're really struggling at the moment, so to be able to potentially put some extra money in their direction and help them do what they do, it just seemed like the right thing to do."
If you'd like to donate to Jo's Halloween fundraiser, you can find out more at: https://bit.ly/3SzR0jf
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