Joan McAlpine has praised the generosity of two companies who are making generous donations of a visitor shelter, from Portakabin, and a storage facility, from Wernick, to a much loved animal sanctuary in Sanquhar.
Clark’s Little Ark will receive the important new units after local MSP contacted the businesses to request help for the animal sanctuary. The organisation was set up by Alison Shankly whose disabled son Clark had a special bond with animals. Sadly, Clark died but his legacy is bringing happiness to many children.
Joan McAlpine visited Clark’s Little Ark last year and was struck by the passion and commitment of the volunteers and disabled people who help run the sanctuary through the organisation Friends of Clark’s Little Ark, she said:
“Clark’s Little Ark is extremely precious to local children and it has enormous therapeutic benefits. When we met Alison Shankly and volunteer David Weir last year they explained the sanctuary’s need for a chemical toilet and a shelter for visitors and volunteers.
“Getting grants can take time so I wrote off to some companies and was delighted when several replied with offers of help. A huge thanks goes to Portakabin in Hamilton who are refurbishing a unit for the ark to use and Wernick of Coatbridge who are supplying a storage facility. It just goes to show there’s a lot of love out there!”
Ms McAlpine has pledged her long term support to Clark’s Little Ark and is looking into ways to help them find the thousands of pounds of funding needed to get an electricity connection for the new shelter. She added:
“The next stage is for Clark’s Little Ark to secure planning permission so they can move these fantastic new temporary buildings onto the site and start using them. Then they will need an electricity connection. I’ve already discussed it with Scottish Power Energy Networks and I’m looking into a couple of options to make an electricity connection affordable for the sanctuary.
“The recent bad weather has highlighted just how essential this shelter and facilities are, so I’m keen to get things moving for them as quickly as possible.”
