A Helping Paw pet food bank looking for new home in Ashington due to cost of living pressures

A Helping Paw, currently based near Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, must find a new home before the end of March, and have appealed for help on Facebook.

The registered charity is looking for its new hub to be a small, ground floor space with a car park, in the Ashington area if at all possible.

Founder Tyesha Muncaster, from Ashington, said: “It is devastating. All that we have set this up for is to help hungry pets and to make sure no pet goes to sleep with an empty tummy, and it is kind of putting that in jeopardy, unfortunately.

“It was actually our busiest day ever in the hub on the day we found out.

“Demand is just insane. I am worried about how we are going to support these people if we do not have a hub to work from.”

A Helping Paw first started in July 2022 when Tyesha offered up some spare kitten food pouches online, since her own cats had grown out of them.

She set up the organisation after seeing how much interest there was from people needing help, and the service has rapidly grown in a short time period.

They moved into their current home beside Taylors Pet Supplies at the start of December last year.

But now the charity has to move, as financial pressures and rising costs mean the shop can no longer afford to support their operations.

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Tyesha, who works in digital marketing, said: “Taylor’s Pet Supplies, where we have the hub, have been amazing to be honest, and it is not their fault at all.

“Long story short, it is going to cost them too much to let us stay here rent-free.”

Jane Taylor, owner of Taylors Pet Supplies, said: “We wanted to support them as much as possible, but obviously the current climate just does not allow for it, because there are so many cost implications around every avenue of business.”

The shop only opened in March 2022, but has seen its energy bills skyrocket in recent months.