Sainsbury’s Bishop Auckland has raised almost £7,500 for Kays Hill Animal Sanctuary, as part of the Local Charity of the Year scheme.

The sanctuary has an array of animals, from the small and fluffy bunny to the wild fox, the exotic parrot and lizard – and all are taken in and cared for by a team of volunteers.

The facility is just two miles from the Sainsbury’s Bishop Auckland store at Bildershaw on the A68 towards Darlington.

Once taken in, all animals are offered a stress free environment to recover and recuperate before a new loving home can be found for those able to be re-homed, and a home for life given to the more exotic variety that are not recommended as pets.

This is a no kill shelter that was chosen by customers and colleagues last June and has received support from the store for the past year.

Activities which helped raise £4,175.69 of the total have included a sponsored dog walk, tombolas, bag packs and the big bike ride.

Kays Hill also received tea pots and crockery to help set up their tea room and, through the generosity of the store customers and colleagues, the donation bins at the front of store over the year donated over £3,322.91 worth of animal food. This does not include customers dropping off specialised food, blankets and toys.

Christine Jeffery, Store Manager of Sainsbury’s Bishop Auckland, said, “We’ve had an excellent year supporting Kays Hill Animal Sanctuary, our customers and colleagues have got involved with a number of fundraising activities.

We’d like to thank everyone at Kays Hill for making it such a brilliant partnership.”

Kevin Plummber, the owner of Kays Hill, added, “We’d like to thank the customers and colleagues at Sainsbury’s in Bishop Auckland for their support over the past year.

“It has made such a difference to Kays Hill Animal Sanctuary and we’re extremely grateful for the donations and awareness we’ve been able to raise.”