Last weekend South African expat, Gavin McNeil, set off on an exciting charity scooter adventure. For an epic 16 hours, Gavin scooted almost 100 kilometres to raise awareness and funds for Paws Rescue Qatar.
As the sun was setting over the beautiful Doha corniche last Friday, Gavin waved goodbye to his family and Paws Rescue Qatar supporters and founding members, Alison Caldwell and Emily Blenkinsop. Gavin’s aim was to cover 100 kilometres on his scooter over 12 hours, starting off at the fountains on the corniche and finishing at the same location. The early spring heat caught up with Gavin, and he managed to scoot over 95 kilometres in just over 16 hours. A remarkable endeavour indeed; with a blood blister on his foot and a seized up tendon on the other leg, he had to call it quits and settle with 5 kilometres short of 100 kilometres, finishing at 8:45AM on Saturday morning.
This charity scooter adventure was inspired by Gavin’s love of scooting since he was a young child. He founded Gavin’s World of Adventures (a social media blog) earlier this year, with the aim to raise awareness and funds for charity organisations around Doha, Qatar. On this maiden scooter adventure, Paws Rescue Qatar captured Gavin’s attention as being in need and making a real difference in the community – not only by saving abandoned animals but also involving and educating the youth and the community.
Gavin, 28 years of age, is a restaurant manager here in Doha, and wants to raise as much money as possible to help the animals of Qatar. With summer approaching fast now, heat and dust storms will make the outside conditions extreme for any pet or animal trying to survive.
Paws Rescue Qatar was founded in 2014 and is a QBBF (Qatar British Business Forum) awarded community animal welfare project, run entirely by volunteers and donations by kind animals lovers of Qatar and across the world. Currently Paws are caring for more than 240 abandoned animals at the shelter that desperately need support and funding to keep the project ongoing and save more animal lives.
Donations toward this worthy cause can still be made here or on the online funding platform www.gofundme.com/savepawsrescueqatar. Cash donations are also welcome and will be collected by one of the Paws Volunteers. Please contact hello@pawsrescueqatar.org.
