A CHARITY which helps ensure homeless people’s pets are well looked after and healthy has issued a desperate plea for support as it faces running out of funding.

Charlie Boys Angels, based in Station Road, Thorpe Bay, helps support vulnerable and homeless people by helping to ensure their pets are fed, de-wormed, cared for and offers temporary accommodation for dogs.

However, the group fear they will run out of funding within three months and has launched a fundraiser to raise £5,000 in a bid to ensure they survive.

The group sets up two nights a week, working at St Vincent’s and in the Short Street Car Park, where they provide blankets, collars, leads and work with a veterinary nurse to do general health checks from their specialist van.

They also work with a private landlord to help provide dog-friendly temporary accommodation for homeless people.

Ms Channell said: “When I see the running costs of our charity I begin to panic, we have to spend more than £2,000 a year in financing and our operational costs are ridiculous.

“Our new van failed it’s MOT test, which has cost £500 and we have to pay for charity insurance, storage of dog food, the beds for when people move in and the curtains and kitchen equipment for when people move in.

“We currently have five houses with five people in a house and we are lucky enough to have a landlord who keeps buying houses and refurbishing them.

“Our costs are £5,000 just to run as a skeleton and with vet bills going up, we had a £10,000 grant that has lasted until December.

“We need to last until May, if we received £1 a month from our 2000 members, it would keep Charlie Boys Angels alive.”

Ms Channell added that demand for the group had increased with more than 12 emergency callouts and referrals so far this year.

She added: “We had a rough sleeper whose dog collapsed and it was awful, we could only do so much and his dog had to be put down.

“We rely on grant money to be able to respond to those emergencies.”

The charity is holding a fundraising event on March 2 to unveil a plaque for their namesake, Charlie Boy, who tragically passed away more than seven years ago.

Ms Channell is calling for donation at paypal.com/paypalme/charlieboyangels