For Chantelle - Our friend in need!

Even if she’s not a familiar face, the name Chantelle Arnold-Wylie will be familiar to a lot of people, both within Spark and also in her local community. As well as being one of the loveliest people you’re ever likely to meet, she’s also a fantastic manager, a respected colleague and saviour to wounded or abandoned animals and birds everywhere. Many of us are also lucky to have her as a much loved friend.

Chantelle has a big heart and when she is not busy working or rescuing animals that have been mistreated, she is giving her time to help with local events in and around the Manawatu and Palmerston North areas. Our little corner of Spark-land runs on her smile usually, but sadly Chantelle and her smile have been absent from the office for the past few weeks.

In the early morning hours of 15th March 2015, Chantelle’s home burnt to the ground in a devastating fire. Although three different Fire Stations attended the blaze, the ferocity and intensity of the fire meant that the house burned right through the night and was completely destroyed.

Thankfully Chantelle wasn’t physically harmed during this disaster, but all of her belongings along with fond memories of her home have been completely destroyed. Can you imagine your own life changing that instantly and completely? All at once you are suddenly homeless, have no possessions, only have the clothes you’re wearing, and all your precious photographs, jewellery and other irreplaceable sentimental items are gone for ever. All that’s left is a scorched patch of earth and smouldering rubble. If you’re an animal lover like Chantelle, you also have to start looking for a lot of treasured pets, only to discover that not all of them were lucky enough to escape the fire.

Pretty grim reading, but this is exactly the situation Chantelle has ended up in through absolutely no fault of her own. It seems so unfair that someone so kind and generous and so universally loved is being put through something like this. At present the insurance people are continuing their (very slow) process, so until they provide her with any assistance, which is far from guaranteed, it leaves Chantelle homeless with little more than the clothes on her back. She now has to rebuild her life from scratch while dealing with the trauma and loss caused by this event.

The past few weeks have proven to be tough for Chantelle, but we are hoping to help raise some funds in support of her so that she can rebuild her life and smile again. Please find it in your hearts to give generously to this “Give a little” page to help Chantelle during her time of need…

Funds will be used for Chantelle to help towards setting up her life again. Chantelle lost her house and all her possessions during the fire and will require funds towards paying for the demolition of the remnants of her existing property and the rebuild of a house or funds toward replacing all of her household possessions.