Volunteer’s Week 2024: Who supports Brooke?
This Volunteer’s Week (3-9 June 2024), Brooke celebrates some of its most dedicated volunteers, helping to improve the lives of working donkeys, horses and mules worldwide.
Ginty Jackson
Supporting Brooke since 2001, Hertfordshire-based Ginty has raised over £5,000 for the charity through treks and challenges around the world.
In 2002, Ginty embarked on a fundraising horse ride through Egypt with Brooke, accompanied by Dorothy Brooke’s grandson, Richard Searight, visiting Brooke’s clinics in Cairo and Mara Mutruh.
Witnessing the suffering of working animals firsthand across the country was difficult for Ginty to see, inspiring her to keep helping Brooke in any way she could.
In 2012, she rode again with Brooke in India to visit Brooke’s emerging clinics and support for working animals in brick kilns.
“Brooke is my favourite charity. I love the work and commitment involved.”
In 2024, Ginty raised over £1,500 for Brooke by completing the Camino de Santiago Trek in Portugal over seven days, which was “a real challenge but the feeling of achievement at the end was unforgettable.”
Ginty was a teenager when she first heard about the charity’s founder, Dorothy Brooke, who became a “heroine” to her. Her daughter is even named Brooke, who “loves that her name has so much meaning.”
Louise lived in Sudan for six years where each day she saw horses, donkeys and mules pulling heavy and over-laden carts, who were then abandoned.
“I never forgot about them”: said Louise.
Living in South East England, Louise has been a Brooke supporter since 2007, now the Joint Group Leader of a Brooke fundraising group in London and West Kent.
Louise has raised over £100,000 as part of the group, funding Brooke projects to improve animal welfare standards in Pakistan’s brick kilns, and vital health care for over 12,000 working animals in Ethiopia.
“When I came home to the UK and saw an advert in the newspaper for Brooke, I knew this was the charity that would enable me to help animals who I hadn’t been able to before.”
Louise regularly holds collections, attends events and gives talks in her local area. Recently, she joined Brooke at its Buckingham Palace reception with Her Majesty The Queen, to mark the charity’s 90th anniversary.
Sylv from Lincolnshire is a lifelong lover of horses, who has raised over £3,000 for Brooke through running.
In 2023, the Grantham Running Club member ran the London Marathon for Brooke, who after losing her own horse wanted to tie her love for sport with animal welfare.
Sylv said: “Like most runners, the London Marathon is something special to tick off the bucket list, but the knowledge that I'm running for such a worthy cause added a profound dimension to my training."
"I feel very lucky to have had this opportunity. Running 26.2 miles is nothing compared with what these animals go through every day.”
Helen has fundraised for Brooke for over 25 years, owning 15 donkeys and a garden centre in Hampshire, raising over £50,000 to date.
Each Christmas, Helen takes her donkeys to the garden centre to raise money for Brooke, who also attend Palm Sunday services regularly at local churches and cathedrals, much to the delight of attendees.
She values Brooke's approach of "teaching owners of these beasts of burden that if they look after these intelligent souls, they will in turn give their all in assisting them to earn a living."
Helen’s connection to donkeys began over 45 years ago when she rescued Jenny the donkey from a horse trader, which was “the start of a lifetime love for these courageous, loving, intelligent, funny and furry creatures.”
“I started collecting for Brooke after reading about all of the good work they did worldwide”: said Helen.
“Education is of such key importance when it comes to animal welfare and Brooke has managed to achieve this continuously over the decades.”
Helen donkeys, who she describes as: "courageous, loving, intelligent, funny and furry creatures.”