Just Giving Awards 2023
Here’s how to vote: Click the button below, find Sarah’s profile under Community Hero of the Year (ignoring the spelling of her surname!!), hit the Vote For Me button, then scroll to the bottom of the page and enter your email address, press the Vote Now button, and bingo, voted!
You may want to look at the amazing fundraisers in the other categories and vote for one from each category while you are at it – some truly inspiring stories.
What do we do?
We bring our gentle and friendly miniature donkeys to your community group, voluntary organisation, dementia group or special needs group.
We are based in South Norfolk and operate across Norfolk, Suffolk, East Cambridgeshire and North Essex. Basically, we visit anywhere where a mood boosting donkey visit would help people with their wellbeing.
If you want our donkeys to come to a Wedding, Private Party, Event or even a Funeral we can do that too.
Why do we do it?
Having worked with family carers professionally and having been a family carer for two parents with dementia, the group’s founder knows firsthand how stress can be relieved by spending time with these beautiful animals.
Sarah lost her mum to dementia in April 2017 and took the decision to set up a social enterprise to bring the benefits of interacting with mini donkeys to as wide an audience as possible.
How do you book a visit?
If you would like to find out more about how our visits work or would like to book a visit, you can e-mail us, give us a call or download a booking form.
Our visits do book up quite quickly and if you have a specific date in mind (wedding, summer fete, special birthday) call us to reserve your date. Bookings are confirmed on receipt of a completed booking form.
Mini Donks on Facebook
Thank you all for your kind wishes sent for Saffy. She is currently tucked up in her stable, with hourly feeds of a handful of soaked hay. This will continue through the night, so we are going to take the morning off from Facebook. Don’t worry that there is bad news, it just means that we will be having a break. We may even take 2 days off, just to ease the pressure a bit. It can be a bit full-on running this social enterprise.
Thank you for your understanding.
Take care all of you, sending lots of love x
Sending love and thoughts. It must be super hectic for you carers and the Minidonks 24/7 so please don't put your well being in jeopardy. Just take the time you need ❤️ Get well wishes to sweet Saffy.
Donkey welfare is your priority, always... 💕 We understand and are behind you, every step of the way.. xx
Feel your normal gorgeous self soon lovely Saffy 🧡🧡🧡
Get well soon saffy 💕xx
Take care all of you love xxx 💖💖💖
Get well soon Saffy. I’m sending you big cuddles. Take care of yourself, Sarah x
Get well soon 🙏 Saffy, sending big hugs, take care all of you and all the mini donkey's 💖 💕 💖 💕 🫏 🫏 🫏 🫏
Oh no saffy xx lots of hugs coming your way X take care everyone 😘
Take care of yourself and the donks 🌹❤
Hoof up time Saffy
I hope Saffy and you are ok.
So sorry to hear Saffy is unwell x get well soon special girl x you are in the best hands x take care everyone big hugs and lots of healing cuddles for Saffy x 🙏🏻🤗 x 💕🤗🫏🤗🫏🤗🫏🤗💕
Get well soon Sweetie!
Get well soon Saffy 💕
Get well soon Saffy ❤️❤️❤️
🙏🙏🙏🙏❤️❤️❤️❤️🙏🙏🙏🙏
Prayers for sweet Saffy
Lots of love and cuddles for Saffy, (and any other donks around .... ) Wrap up warm you carers - behind you all the way xx❣xx
Get well soon Saffy ❤️❤️❤️
Big hugs to Saffy and all of you ❤ 💓. You work so hard and this cold weather doesn't help !! Take all the time you need, to reboot xxx
Get well soon Saffy lots cuddles xxxxxx🫏🫏🫏
All the loves to you all ❤️❤️
Rest up all of you especially Saffy 😘😘 Hugs for everyone 🫂🫂🫂
Sending best wishes xxxx
Stop press - we will be leaving Holt Market an hour earlier than planned for weather related donkey welfare reasons.... nothing to worry about, just that Saffy is not feeling like interacting with anyone and it is probably due to the cold wet weather, but we need to get her home sooner than planned to keep her under observation.
Apologies to anyone who misses seeing us, but we know you will understand that donkey welfare always comes first.
The Donkeys come first 🥰
Always donkeys first, hope Saffy feels herself later x
I hope Saffy feels better soon... 💕 To be fair, I wouldn't be too lively in this weather, either.... ❄️ 🥶
Hope she is ok x
I hope you are ok and it’s just the weather
Hope Saffy is feeling better soon love xxx 💘💘💘
💋💋
Hope she feels better soon. xx
Stay safe and well 🙏 💕
Love to Saffy and all of you . Donkeys must always come first💗
Donkey welfare comes first x
Donkeys health top priority every time hope she feels better soon ❤
Give her a hug …and a ginger biscuit from me please. Go safe xxx
Sorry to hear saffy not well get better soon .fab photo😍😍
The donks come first. Hope Daffy is ok xxx
That's the right thing to do 💞
Hope Saffy is soon back to normal and everyone and donk is soo warm and dry xx
Hope that Saffy is ok x
Hope you feel more yourself now you're tucked up in the warm sweetheart xxx
Hope she’s ok xx
Oh gosh hope Saffy is feeling better, love to her, all the Donks and you volunteers x
We are in the middle of a whirlwind of winter activity! Lovely visit to Oakington Garden Centre yesterday and we’ll be back there again on Saturday 16th December! Well worth a visit if you’ve never been, and the cake 🍰 wow!!!
Today is Holt Christmas Market - such a fantastic event and well worth a visit. So many stalls with fantastic wares, as long as the always wonderful shops. We’ll be set up and ready to see you from 10am to 1pm. (The market continues after this but we have special permission to leave early so it is not too long a day for the donks! )
Then next week we are back to our precious special school and care home visits, finishing up with a visit to a hospice…. And a one off, Pop Up shop event at The Castle Quarter in Norwich on Saturday 9th December.The shop will be there with our wonderful range of Minidonk Merchandise, without the donkeys for a change - pure retail therapeutic bliss!!
What are you all up to this week? The donks want to know!!
Absolutely amazing beautiful pictures love to you all xxx xxx 💘💘💘💘
Well, apart from working which includes a Christmas raffle at our Craft Buddies Group tomorrow at Fulmerston Church in Thetford. I will be writing Christmas cards and meeting up with my sister and brother in law with my partner and son for our Christmas present exchange. As they will be in Scotland this Christmas at my sisters, brother in law mums house. Then next Sunday we have our first special service for Christmas which includes a puppet show and shared meal. Hope you all have a fab week and the weather doesn't interrupt all what those magical minidonks do 🎄🎅⛄️🫏❤️🥕xx
Wow busy Donks and volunteers !!! I will be knitting more Jack's for Tuesday, attempting to get into attic for Christmas decorations, with a ladder that is way too short ( no pictures will be available of that !!!). Lunch with friends, Craft group Christmas meeting, then boring stuff....have a good week everyone 👍 😀 😊
Sunday blessings to you all x fabulous fotos thank you x well this week it’s wash day Monday URG!! Tuesday Braintree hospital with my daughter x Wednesday new blinds fitted Yeah!! Thursday meeting with my VVVVBFF and Friday who knows might have to get started thinking of Christmas!! x so for me that’s a busy week x have a brilliant week you special minidonks and hoomans spreading all your Minidonk magic and love xx ♥️💕🫏♥️💕🫏♥️💕🫏♥️💕✨🪄
Do you never rest? Look after yourselves and donks of course. Merry Christmas.
Feeling thankful for the weather being a bit warmer than forecast. Only -3!!!
We’ll be setting off in a little while to Oakington Garden Centre & Olive Tree Café Official, we’ll be all set up from 11am (traffic permitting!) and staying until 2pm.
Last night the team were at Eye Christmas Lights Switch On. A fabulous £800 raised- brilliant work and huge thanks to the team for turning out on such a frosty night.
😍🫏🥶🚛🫏🥕🤩😳🥶🥕🫏
Absolutely beautiful pictures and hope you all have a great day love to you all xxx xxx 💘💘💘💘
Morning everyone x wow you did have a fabulous night x well done x have a super Saturday with your precious cargo xx sending lots of warm hugs xx 💕🤗🫏💕🤗🫏💕🤗🫏💕
Magical! Bravo you, Minidonk team!!😘😘😘
Wonderful pictures of beautiful Minidonks and amazing humans ❤️
Well done, thermals on today, keep warm while the Donks work their magic x 👏
Well done gang 👏👏👏👏👏
So excited to come and meet the Minidonk Team today with my sister Tracey Shaughnessy😍xx
Wonderful! Well done to you all ❤️ ❤️
Wow 🥰 you did have a fabulous night, well done all, have a lovely day 😊 🫏 ❤️ 🫏 ❤️ 🫏 ❤️
What a Fabulous Friday it is! Thank you all for your kind thoughts and wishes ahead of the Stars of Norfolk and Waveney Awards yesterday.
Bo Peep was pipped at the post by a rather special dog called Alfie, but we were so proud that she made it through to the finals, not just of the animal Hero category, but also to the final round of the Judge’s Special Award category. We enjoyed the Awards ceremony so much, hearing about so many wondeful caring, brave, kind people who had been nominated. A full breakdown on all the winners will appear in the EDP this Saturday, but we think all the nominees and finalists are winners ⭐️ 🌟 💫
And……the best news was that one of our special friends, Theo Yeldham, won the Young Person of the year Award for his dedication to beach cleaning with a huge focus on keeping his beloved seals and other wildlife safe. His mum Hannah is one of our volunteers and we are so proud to be connected with Theo.
A quick reminder of our schedule over the weekend:
Tonight, Friday, at Eye (Suffolk) lights switch-on from 5-8pm
Saturday, 2nd December, Oakington Garden Centre & Olive Tree Café Official from 11am- 2pm
Sunday, 3rd December, Holt Christmas Market, from 10am-1pm.
(****Please be aware that if weather conditions mean that it will be unsafe to travel the donkeys to any of these events, we will have to make the difficult decision to stay at home. We will post updates here if our plans change. *****)
Aww bless them the photo's are fabulous as always ❤️, have a lovely day and stay safe ❤️ 🫏 💕 🫏 💞 🫏 💕
Well done Miniature Donkeys for Wellbeing for brightening up everyone’s lives. Well done beautiful Bo Peep x
Beautiful pictures and you all do a great job bless you all xxx xxx 💘💘💘💘
We are all winners and change lives daily, 😘 thank you for supporting theo. I asked him what the best bit of his day was.…’ definitely walking the mini donks to the lorry’ 🤦♀️ like mother like son!!! 😂
Lovely pictures well done to you all . You all do a great job. 💕🥕
Bravo Theo, Bo Peep and all the Minidonk team!! (And MD can certainly rock a hat!) Leaky eyes for Theo's Mum Hannah - what a joy to see a youngster becoming a very special adult ❣
Have a wonderful few days bringing joy to all you meet
Congratulations to you for getting to the finals!! Team Mini Donks are our winners!!!! Xxx
Well done for getting to the final and being recognised for the wonderful positive impact you have for so many people x
Looking forward to seeing you on Sunday at Holt
Hannah Marie 👏Hannah Marie what an example Theo is to all youngsters following in his Mums footsteps x one very proud mum xx 💕💕
Congratulations on being a finalist.
👏👏 Congratulations to you all x you are all winners everyday doing what you do best spreading love and special minidonk magic x have a fab Friday stay safe xxx 💕🫏💕🫏💕🫏💕🫏💕
Congratulations to bo peep hope you got to have some carrots for coming 2nd
Congrats to being a finalist 🥳, Bo Peep is a winner to us. Well done Theo, fab job and definitely deserves the Young Person of the Year Award 🥳👏 Take care in this cold weather 🥶 🥰 xx
It's so great what you do, I take my dog to the VA in Massachusetts and they asked if I could bring my donkey but they aren't trained for therapy wish you were closer so you could take them to visit
All wonderful animals and people ❤️👌🏻 The Minidonks are so special and I would like to thank each and every person involved in their good works 24/7. Congratulations to Theo 🤝🏻👌🏻
Our visits can take place in all kinds of settings. Although most of our visits are to care homes, and then schools we also visit prisons, individuals in their homes and the occasional GP surgery.
Everyone can do with a dose of donkey wellbeing every now and then.
Here is Jack from a few weeks ago helping some NHS staff at The Lawns surgery in Diss.
One of the doctors asked us to wait till his home visits were done, as he was really looking forward to meeting them, and then said let's go through the waiting room so everyone can see them.
Earlier in the day on a short walk through the town, while we waited for the doctor to come back, we had a lady run out from her store to say hello. She hadnt seen miniature donkeys before, and had a huge smile.
The best was one of the GP staff saying later that day after they had gone, even though a really busy afternoon with patients, "I feel so energised and happy still from seeing the donkeys earlier."
We also had everyone saying how much they wanted another visit again soon.
Lisa W
(He then went off to sneakily grab a piece of tree which I had to wrestle from his mouth!)
Oh bless ❤
Bess him xx
Bless him 💕
Can't wait until Windmill House - Runwood Homes Senior Living visit.We are all looking forward to our Mini Donkey therapy visit.x
Aww bless fabulous picture, go and sprinkle some more magic donkey 🫏 dust ✨️ today 🫏 💘 🫏 💘 🫏 💘
That was a lovely afternoon . Thanks for arranging it, Lisa x
Aww what a cutie x
Lovely boy! You truly do go the extra mile and then some, to help people. You are all absolutely amazing humans and Minidonks ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Wow what a handsome lovely boy you are Jack ♥️🫏♥️x brilliant post on your visit I can imagine what the lady felt when she saw you x for me the feeling in my tummy of seeing you all is butterflies x and just love 💕💕x you are very special hoomans and minidonks xx have a lovely day xxx 💕🫏💕🫏💕🫏💕🫏
Care ..
Bo peep cuddles are the best ever I love them all but bo peep my fav.
Too long since I had Jack cuddles!!!
Awe Adorable!! I love him💙
Natalina SK
What a Sweetheart❤️
😻
They are soooo beautiful
so adorable!
Mary Montenegro
Audra Powell
Wie kann man Werbung vom Tierschutz und andere Vereine dauerhaft ausblenden?
Fernando Garcia
Chance Barefield I need
❤️❤️❤️
Lots of our wonderful volunteers literally go the extra mile helping us to deliver our 'mood boosting' visits. We thought 'Pete our Positive Potato' should accompany one of them for the day to see exactly what their journey can entail... here's just a snippet -what an eye opener!
Normal service will be resumed tomorrow!
Linda - with thanks to Georgina for the photos!
That's some journey, you all go that extra mile every day 👏👏👏👏💞
Ha ha, love it! And a very busy potato!
Love it 😀❤️👏
Absolutely gorgeous! Love that happy jaunt ! You are all such beautiful people....and donkeys. And potatoes! Thank you for your work every day of the year.....❤️
Wow, that must have tired you out but at least you were able to rest with your country friends 🥔🥔🥔 love it ❤️ 😆
Wow what a busy day!!! Lots done and spending the day with the minidonks as well. Love this.......... maybe a book of your adventures next !! 🤔 Day of rest 😴 today? Or more adventures?
Lovely photos Georgina. Xx
Love this! X
Lovely pictures with that busy potato, have another fantastic day 🫏 💕 🫏 💕 🫏 💕
Lovely pictures and what a great idea 🐎💖🐎💖
Morning all x Linda your posts never disappoint absolutely brilliant and what a day you had thank you for sharing that with us and thank you to the lovely Georgina the photographer 👏you really are the most special hoomans and minidonks ever xxx have a wonderful Wednesday xx 💝😍🫏💝😍🫏💝😍🫏😍🫏💝
Fantastic- looks like you all had a good day 🤗
Can I buy a positive potato?
Welcome to another Terrific Tuesday! Life is going at such a fast pace that it will be Christmas Eve before we know it! And our little hooves are going to be busy before then.
We get very excited when we go to places we have never been before and I just wanted to let you all know a little bit about where we will be on Saturday. Oakington Garden Centre & Olive Tree Café Official is an independent traditional garden centre and cafe, situated in Oakington, near Cambridge. Go and have a look at their FB page- they do some wonderful stuff, inviting local craft and food businesses in regularly, as well as stocking a fantastic range of plants, all things garden of course, and a fabulous on site coffee shop! I know the team are looking forward to it and if you live anywhere near, make a trip to come and see all they have to offer, as well, of course, as the fabulous Minidonk Pop Up shop and donkeys - all on site between 11am and 2pm, Saturday 2nd December.
And I just wanted to share some news about Pippin. We took her on one of our regular visits to visit a gentleman with an acquired brain injury. For the first time in a long time, Pippin stood, with her head in his lap, quietly sucking on my hand, while he was assisted by Wendy to stroke her soft fur. Her ears were a particular favourite this time and we spent a solid 10 minutes, in position, enjoying the calming, relaxation session, with Pippin completely zoned out, eyes half shut enjoying the bliss of being stroked. Meanwhile, in the background, Pixie was resting her entire upper body weight on Sally-Anne, (it was a bit like donkey/human yoga) having her neck and chest gently scratched. It did turn into a bit of a wrestling session, as Sally Anne needed a break and Pixie didn’t want it all to end!!!
Aww bless little Pippin, have a lovely day 🫏 ❤️ 🫏 ❤️ 🫏 ❤️
Lovely pictures, have a wonderful day 💕
So good to read that Pippin is out on visits, bless her 💕 I hope you have a fab time at Oakington on Saturday. Love to all 💖
Working the magic! Go Minidonks!!❣
Absolutely beautiful pictures and great to see Pippin out and about again love to you all xxx xxx 💘💘💘💘
Oh bless ❤
What a start to a Terrific Tuesday my daily post from minidonks 😍x Pippin you are a Terrific little girl beautiful photos x well done x have a Terrific Saturday at the garden centre x and lastly have a Terrific Tuesday one and all xx ♥️🫏🤗🫏🤗🫏🤗🫏♥️
As bless them both. Pippin is so special . Have a great time on Saturday 💕💕💖
So happy Pippin is back on visits ❤️ What an amazing day! You are all so sweet and wonderful.....donkeys and humans. Thank you all so much ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
They are looking divine and christmassy bringing alot of pleasure👍😍
We are really looking forward to seeing you all! 🫏 🫏 🫏
Beautiful pictures. ♥️🐎♥️🐎♥️🐎♥️🐎
Met Jack and Saffy last night at Eye, my granddaughter fell in love with them. Had a lovely chat to one of your volunteers. They all dud you proud, all lovey people. Lucky dink donks to have such a fan club. Tge quality of the merchandise was outstanding, especially the knitted items. Well done volunteer's. X
Russet 'Maude' Magic
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