The year is about to end the last days of a difficult year for everyone in this world. We had little good news to announce, little positive development at our dog shelter. And yet the Mr. Steels Dartbar and its regular players gave us a very good end of the year. It's getting harder and harder for me to say "thank you" because the more support we receive for our dog shelter, the less words can express what it all means to us. It's difficult enough to start a project privately and see it slip into neediness with all the current circumstances.
Patrick Töpfer, the owner of the Mr. Steels Dartbar in Bernburg, had already organized a benefit tournament for our dog farm at the beginning of the year, in which €700 was raised through stakes and donations from the regular players, and benefited the "100Dogs" project. Patrick's sister (Mandy Töpfer) stirred it all up when I was in Brazil for 2 months this year. In May 2022 I was able to get to know the players and friends of Mr. Steels Dartbar personally. These men are a really good bunch, the mood in the Dartbar is informal and you immediately feel in good hands and integrated there. Thank you to everyone!!!
At the end of the year, Patrick, the regular players of the Mr.Steels Dartbar and also the participants in the tournament on December 17th, 2022 put their hearts into it again and collected an insane €1166 (!!!) for a good cause over the last few Months, and through the entry fee and an auction on the same day, collected in a large pot and the whole sum again (!) was dedicated to the project "100Dogs". To start an event twice in such a short time, to support us with it and to donate a total of almost 1900,-€, that's incredible for us. In the meantime, the moral value of this action almost exceeds the monetary value. Due to the last few months, we are not particularly well positioned, both financially and mentally. This campaign gives us strength that cannot be bought. Dear men of the Mr.Steels Dartbar, dear Patrick: From the bottom of our hearts we thank you for everything! We thank you for the trust, your commitment, your rousing family interaction with each other, for your attention and your vein for projects that need help during this difficult time!! You have sweetened the otherwise very mixed year 2022 for us. Thanks to you, we can leave the old year behind us with a portion of courage and confidence and start a new year. You've bought us more than a few breaths to keep on fighting for the dogs in our shelter. You have soothed our emotionally overburdened spirits. We will never forget that!!
Many thanks also to Kerstin for your Christmas package with jam, honey, the noble sweets and the donation on top!! That was very nice and made me/us very happy!! Also a thank you to the bearer "Banny", whom I got to know together with "Waffel" - the third winner of the tournament. Both, "Waffel" and Malte (second place in the evening), donated their prize money for third and second winner! The men were there for a good cause and the joy of playing darts, really big. So much greatness from everyone involved, for such a small project as our dog sanctuary, it feels like having an army behind us, a support that we really appreciate!! 100Dogs", Dita, Jade and I wish you all a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and a hopefully lucky year!! Thank you again for all the donations and efforts you have taken, and still having fun!! Stay the way you are, and I'll come by as soon as possible in the new year with a thank you for Mr.Steels Dartbar!
(December 17th 2022: Marvin, the winner of the darts tournament, with Patrick the owner of Mr. Steels Dartbar)
(December 17th 2022:
Malte, the second winner, with Patrick)
(December 17th 2022: Patrick congratulates "Waffel", the third winner)
(December 17th 2022: Patrick hands over the donation box with 1166,-€)
For the next few weeks I'll be working on a little thank you gift for the Mr.Steels Dartbar.
Before the tournament, I baked cinnamon stars and prepared a small bag of cookies for each participant. It's not much and hardly worth what you've done for us, but it's a lot of work and love.
It will also be a bit quieter on our website the next weeks, the big exam for my retraining as a wagon master is coming up in February, and there are a lot of documents that I have to study, which I will do in the next days and weeks. The aim is to pass the exam and thus create new opportunities for the "100Dogs" project, possibly to generate higher income in order to keep the dog farm or to be able to rebuild it on the new piece of land. The large donation from the benefit darts tournament helps us immensely!
The bank card that Dita used on site in Brazil to withdraw the money from the donation bank account expired in December of this year. Before that I had (as far as possible) put aside some money from my wages to be able to realize my next trip to our dog shelter in Brazil. This includes not only the price of the flight ticket, but also the fine of around 2000 euros for overstaying a tourist visa from 2019. I have instructed Dita to withdraw all money by the end of December, as we do not know if there will be a blackout and we might not be able to get any cash there, we also don't know whether the debit card of a newly created online bank account will arrive on time with the package I sent on November 5th, or whether it should even get into Dita's hands in case it just disappear somewhere along the way, like in 2018 three packages (total value was over €1200) from me disappeared into thin air.
We would like to thank everyone involved for their work in Mr. Steels, and also all supporters who help us with single or monthly donations to continue to be able to maintain a life for the street dogs in Brazil!! Thank you all, "100Dogs" wish you all a blessed end of the year and a happy new year!
written December 25th | 2022