Inspire Foundation attendees are now participating in animal petting sessions at Inspires Marsascala premises, thanks to an agreement with animal rescue NGO Sunshine Sanctuary.

Inspire attendees can now spend sessions interacting with various animals such as pigs, rabbits, chickens and roosters – with more animals planned to join in the near future. This activity compliments Inspires existing Therapeutic Horseback Riding service. The addition of these animal petting sessions will form part of the attendees’ programmes, a process well understood to be of great benefit to persons with a disability.

“This collaboration with the Sunshine Sanctuary brings together the work of two similarly-minded NGOs for the benefit of our attendees and their families. We have noticed how the animal interaction sessions are already bearing great fruit and this keeps us motivated to explore more avenues of collaboration in the future” said Adelaide Sammut Silva, Clinical Administration Manger for Inspires Disability Programmes.

“We are delighted to be collaborating with Inspire Foundation, one of the country’s leaders in the field of disability. Through our collaboration, we are widening the scope of our NGO as, apart from providing our rescued animals with a safe and dignified environment, we are also helping Inspire in providing their clients with further services in addition to their extensive portfolio of programmes” said Leila Scott, Sunshine Sanctuary Co-Founder.

Through the agreement between Inspire Foundation Malta and Sunshine Sanctuary, rescued animals are housed within the extensive premises at Inspires Marsascala centre, while Inspire attendees are encouraged to interact with the animals, as volunteers from the sanctuary help guide the animal petting sessions.

For more information, visit https://inspire.org.mt/