25 years of Sarah Connolly 💚 (as written by Gina Hetherington)

Tonight’s post is about a child, who will in turn, become my legacy.
Her name is Sarah Connolly.
The daughter I never had but “borrowed” from her very patient parents.
My mini me…
I first met Sarah when she was 12 years old.
She was a bit like me, outspoken, crazy for animals and no filter. Always in trouble because she spoke out. Because she was so brave when it came to animal abuse.
Sarah started as a volunteer just before her 13th birthday. that, was the beginning of the rest of her life. She knew her journey and was ready for it.
By the time she was 17 she had left school and joined our tiny team, overnight she had decided, she was already home.
We had nothing. And I mean nothing, a cowshed, 5 stables and a dream.
At this point it was 1997
We were still in my mum’s house. The kennels were the old cobble stone stables, Impossible to clean. Sarah still jokes when she looks back and says, “How the hell do I clean out cobbles. with a spoon?” Which she did on many occasions. But the unwanted dogs didn’t care much. They had the dream to live and find homes one day.,. our dream was to build PAWS.
When Deirdre first met Sarah. she was chasing her with a brush calling her a ‘tearaway’ but only because she stood up to her 😂
It was that far back that, I knew. Our legacy was in safe young hands.
Sarah started as our kennel hand and grew into our ‘daughter’ and soon became family.
Since we moved to Tipperary, She now drives an hour and a half to work and the same home every day. If that’s not dedication, I don’t know what is.
As an older rescuer. I wondered how my dream would survive.
In 2016, my mum was very ill and while I had to travel a long distance, three sometimes four days a week to be with her, I had to trust the reins of my dream to Sarah. Not a problem.
She took over the communications with all the overseas agencies that are our life’s blood, sending profiles, arranging transports not to mention the massive amount of paperwork that followed their long tails.
But guess what? She rose to everything that was thrown at her and is still doing it today. That’s My Sarah….at the end of the day, it’s all about the dogs.
One of our proudest moments was when she was finally acknowledged at the Petplan Charity Awards in 2013.
Tonight’s fundraiser is for Paws. But it’s also for every kid out there with a dream.
You can be anything you want to be,
All you have to do is just believe, like Sarah, that you can change the world, one dog at a time.

So far, we have raised €3,000 of our €25,000 target.
You can donate via the donate button at the top of the page, via PayPal to info@paws.ie, at www.paws.ie/donate or by post to PAWS, Mullinahone, Co Tipperary. E41 R652.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQcJYa3SnIM&t=28s