Every street dog deserves a full bowl

Volunteer-run street dog fund · Turks & Caicos Islands

Dora sitting beside the volunteer who founded the fund, who is crouched down with an arm around her

Every dollar goes to the dogs
Entirely volunteer-powered
On island, where the dogs are

What we do

We turned up with a handbag and started paying vet bills.

Away from the glitz and glam of the tourist strip, there are dogs living rough — in yards, on roadsides, behind the shops. Once you have seen how they live, you cannot turn a blind eye.

So we buy food. We treat for ticks and worms. We get dogs vaccinated, spayed and neutered, and into a vet when something is wrong. We sit with the ones nobody has sat with. It is not complicated work — it is just work that somebody has to pay for, and that somebody is you.

Dora's Handbag is powered entirely by volunteers, donations, and people who care. There is no overhead to speak of, because there is no organisation to run — only dogs to look after.

What's in the bag

A handbag is just somewhere to keep the money you are about to spend on somebody else.

This is what comes out of it. Real costs, on island, for one dog at a time — so you know exactly what you are buying when you give.

Add to the bag

A purple handbag with a paw print and a brass "second chances start here" charm, beside a stethoscope, a bowl of food marked "love, care, hope" and a small cushion

What one dog costs Itemised · per dog

A week of good food$12
Deworming & tick treatment$20
Core vaccinations$45
Wellness check & meds$60
Spay or neuter$150
Emergency vet visit$200+
A tennis ball and a belly rubfree

Everything in Everything out

Compassion · Care · Second chances

Dora the Potcake, a dark dog with a white blaze down her muzzle and a speckled white chest, looking away to one side

Meet Dora

The Potcake who started it all.

Dora is the face of the fund, the reason for the name, and the dog we measure everything against.

This special momma dog brought a litter of puppies into the world and watched every one of them go on to a loving home in Canada and the USA. She did the hard part. She stayed behind.

Now it is her turn — and the turn of every other dog on this island who has been waiting just as patiently for somebody to notice.

Inspired by love.
Driven by hope.

Luff'n'Stuff, Dora 🐾

Happy tails

The dogs, as they are.

Not every story is an easy one. Every dog matters anyway. More of them, every week, over on Instagram.

Dora grinning in the sun beside two volunteers crouched next to her — Dora, holding court.

The volunteer who runs the fund, speaking to camera on a shaded balcony — A word from the volunteer behind it all.

A volunteer in green scrubs holding a bag of food, surrounded by four dogs on open ground — The van the dogs know by sound.

A black puppy lying in the shade of a boat hull, looking up at the camera — Eight days of food and care.

A small black and tan puppy wrapped in a white towel on a car seat — Toby, out of the heat.

A thin tan momma dog nursing her litter in the gap beneath a concrete slab — A momma and her litter, under a slab.

A man standing with two dogs in a yard, having carried in food and flea treatment — Extra hands, and deli turkey.

A tan yard dog in a new collar turning on a concrete yard — Provo yard dog pets.

A volunteer bending down to fit an orange collar on a brown dog beside a concrete wall — A new collar and a once-over.

A tan and white dog looking straight up at the camera, waiting — Breakfast rounds, one hopeful customer.

A black dog trotting over to greet a crouching volunteer in a yard — A yard round, and a welcome.

A hand cradling the head of a black puppy lying on a blanket in a crate — She was still very flat.

A white and tan dog called Tim standing on a driveway, another dog resting behind him — Tim, waiting in his usual spot.

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Ways to give

Put something in the bag.

Give once, give monthly, or send food and supplies straight to the island. It all ends up in the same place.

One-off

Cover a cost

Pick a line off the receipt — a round of vaccines, a spay, a week of food — and cover it outright.

Give once

Monthly

Keep the bag full

A standing amount each month is what lets us say yes to a dog on a Tuesday afternoon without checking the balance first.

Give monthly

In kind

Send supplies

Food, collars, leads, crates, flea and tick treatment, old towels. Message us and we will tell you what is short this week.

Ask what's needed

Get in touch

Tell us how you would like to help.

Donating, sending supplies, fostering, flying a dog home as a volunteer courier, or reporting a dog that needs us — start here.

Email hello@dorashandbag.com
Instagram @doras_handbag
Where Turks & Caicos Islands