by Katerina Lorenzatos Makris ~

UPDATE: Rescue Diva donated a total of 500 euros (about $600) to Animal Rescue Kefalonia (ARK) for John Ellett’s fundraiser skydive.  We’re happy to report that John not only conquered his fears and survived the leap, but enjoyed it and wants to do it again some day. 😉 See more info about Rescue Diva’s donations to other animal causes.

Here at RescueDiva.com, we are obsessed with animals and will do just about anything to help them. But would that include jumping out of a perfectly good airplane? Umm… nope. Major acrophobia here. When we’re in a plane, we prefer to keep our seat belts fastened and our tray tables in the upright, locked position till the big bird lands, thank you very much.

Maybe that’s why John Ellett’s fundraiser skydive coming up this Saturday has made such a big impression on us. It impressed us even further to learn that Ellett is something of a ground-hugger himself. He’s really not too keen on the whole let’s-defy-gravity concept, either.

But because he desperately wants to help Animal Rescue Kefalonia (ARK), a valiant shelter on a little Greek island struggling to care for more than 350 animals, this compassionate British fellow, at the age of 58, is determined to conquer his fears.

For him, then, the skydive on April 18^th is not for adventure, it’s not for thrills, it’s not to be macho. It’s a leap of love.

This week we enjoyed a lovely chat with Jumpin’ John, and are pleased to share the interview with you below.

First though we must mention that Ellett’s fundraiser impressed Spicy so much that a few days ago we suddenly found ourselves at the ARK donation page, sending off 300 euros in sponsorship of Jumpin’ John’s Leap of Love for the animals.

We are now on a roll and would like to pitch in an additional 200 euros, for a total of 500 euros.

To get there, all we need is 500 new “Followers” here on RescueDiva.com BY MAY 1st.

John’s gonna jump, but all you need to do is hit our little purple “FOLLOW” button above (it’s FREE!), and fill in your email address so as to receive notifications every time we post a new article here.

When we reach 500 new subscriptions, we’ll donate that additional 200 euros to ARK in sponsorship of John’s jump.

And of course, Ellett and ARK would greatly appreciate your donations too—whatever you can give— which can be made directly and easily via the ARK donation page.

Help us make Jumpin’ John’s courage for critters pay off big!

INTERVIEW WITH JOHN ELLETT, FUNDRAISING SKYDIVER FOR ANIMALS:

Rescue Diva: This Saturday, April 18, at Beccles Airfield in Suffolk in the United Kingdom, you’re going to parachute out of a plane to encourage donations for Animal Rescue Kefalonia (ARK) in Greece. What made you choose a skydive, of all things, for this fundraiser effort?

John Ellett: I was trying to think of several ways to fundraise, from another boot fair to a social function and so on, but wanted to do something not done before and perhaps to fire the imagination of people.

At the beginning I did not realise that the Skydive would be such a success. The other factor was that being scared stiff of heights and fast rides, that the Skydive would be a massive challenge to myself due to the jump incorporating both fears at once.

Diva: Have you ever done a skydive before?

Ellett: Never even dreamed of doing a skydive until now. The thought of jumping from a plane was a thing of nightmares. I used to say that if we were meant to fly we would have been blessed with wings. Still think it now I guess. I am excited but feeling just a little apprehensive. When it all started , the jump seemed so far away that any concerns were far into the future. Obviously now only a day away the nerves are starting to appear. *( I’m smiling )*

Diva: Could you describe the experience with the rescue of the Labrador retriever that introduced you to Animal Rescue Kefalonia (ARK) and got you interested in helping the animals of Kefalonia?

Ellett: Helping the Labrador a few years back was a lovely feeling, not just for me but for my entire family.

We were on holiday in Kefalonia and befriended a lovely dog who was rather thin, infested with fleas, scavenging for food. So we basically fed, watered and played with her nearly every day of our two-week holiday. She was gorgeous and so friendly.

But our holiday was ruined on our last evening. We had coaxed Lilly, as she was supposedly called, to walk back down the main street in the village of Skala. She went to pass this Greek gentleman (would actually not give him the pleasure of being called a gentleman) when without any provocation whatsoever he gave the dog a vicious kick in the ribs and sent her flying with a yelp.

We spent the rest of our last evening on the Internet try to find a way to take her home to the UK. The searching carried on back in the UK where we contacted a UK charity called Friends of the Strays of Greece who told us there was actually a shelter for animals, ARK, back in Kefalonia. We raised around £50 for the Friends of the Strays of Greece and between them and ARK, Lilly was picked up from the streets and re-homed in Athens.

Describe the experience? One of utter shock that someone could ill treat an animal in this way. Dismay that the attack was carried out in front of locals and holidaymakers alike. Disbelief that some people seemed to take the whole episode as if it were a thing that was normal. Anger that was eating inside of me for a long time afterward and in fact still makes me very angry even today.

Diva: Why have you focused on Animal Rescue Kefalonia (ARK) as your main charity? What is it about the group that makes you want to support them?

Ellett: I believe that Animal Rescue Kefalonia is so sacred. I have spent quite some time explaining to people why I chose an overseas charity and my reply is always the same. In the UK we have the RSPCA, the Dogs Trust, the Cats Protection League and so many more. We have government laws to enforce hard and fast rules that albeit should be even more strict.

The ARK is run by volunteers, from the founders Marina Machado Kappatou and Dionisis Kappatos, to people from all over Europe and Greece itself. What they achieve is remarkable. What they do is nothing short of a miracle. It is their dedication that stands out so much from the crowd. Not forgetting the other group on the island in all of this either, Kefalonia Animal Trust (KATs). Both charities do so much for the animals of Kefalonia. I never could have imagined that 300-plus animals could be looked after by so few people, all dedicated. I have the utmost respect for every single one of them.

Diva: What do you do during the rest of your life when you’re not helping animals or jumping out of airplanes?

Ellett: I spend a lot of my spare time on the Internet, especially over the last few months organising the skydive and trying to get more sponsors.

I am keen on photography and last year got my first proper Canon camera. Need a lot of practice though. So now that spring is here I’ll go to our local beauty spots to take photos of birds and other animals.

Love taking my two babies *(doggies)* for walks. Like to read, best authors are Dennis Wheatly, Martina Cole, Virginia Andrews and many more to numerous to mention. Like walking, countryside and riverside walks being my favourite for wildlife.

That’s also one of the main reasons why I love Kefalonia—her beauty, her wildlife, her scenery, and I guess the majority of her people.

I work four days a week (44 hrs) Monday to Thursday. This gives us three days off each week and that’s lovely in the spring and summer. I am a company man and therefore put my life and soul into my work. Have been there for 34-35 years now, so most of my working life.

Diva: Some people say that tourists should boycott Greece and other countries with problematic animal situations—not vacation there—so as to punish them and convince them to do better for the animals. What would be your comments on that?

Ellett: Absolutely not. All that would do would be to turn an already very bad situation into an even worse one. Whereas I do agree that cruelty and tourism should not run side by side, to boycott would allow untold misery on the people who depend on tourism for their very survival. It is the minority and not the majority who are the problem.

Also there would be a massive backlash if people started to boycott in this way and the poor souls in the firing line would be the animals themselves.

It would be an absolute disaster of mega proportions. Let’s do education first and foremost. Start with the younger generation in schools. Begin a new generation where changes will be a guide for generations to come. Neutering, good husbandry, greater knowledge, a possible change in culture maybe—all of these must be a tool to improve the situation that we find ourselves in.

I don’t care what religion, what culture, what reasons are bleated out as an excuse for cruelty, nothing, I repeat nothing gives anybody the right or the justification to inflict cruelty on any animal. It is wrong, it is obscene, it is an affront to human decency.

I know that we are talking about domesticated animals here, but throughout the whole world there is cruelty: seal culling, the killing of the majestic whales, indiscriminate killing of sharks. Ivory poachers being the reason for the demise of the world’s elephants, and more importantly the rhino. Killing of gorillas for trophies. The tiger. The list goes on and on and on.

Millions of years for this planet to evolve and a few hundred years to ruin it and make thousands of animals extinct. Sorry, needed to vent there. Just sick of the mentality of the human race. A gross mistake of evolution if ever there was one.

Diva: Do you think there was anything about your background or upbringing that might have made you particularly caring and compassionate toward animals?

Ellett: Was always interested in insects and animals from a very early age. My shed was always full of jam jars that I used to collect from houses. Each one held different insects. My father used to buy be books on wildlife. I left school at 16 to work on a dairy farm, quite simply because it involved working with animals. Was on the farm for around eight years—best working years of my life.

Diva: When you first told me you were going to do a skydive to raise donations for ARK, I replied saying that the very idea made my palms sweat because I have a fear of heights, and you said you do too!

Also you’ve told me that you have been nervous about doing interviews for the skydive, and appearing in videos and so forth, because you’ve had problems with stuttering. Nevertheless you’re willing to forge ahead for the sake of the animals. You’re not the only one who gets nervous about public speaking. I read somewhere that it’s many people’s top fear in life! I was already impressed that you’re willing to jump out of a plane for the animals, especially given your fear of heights, but it impresses me even more that you’re overcoming so many obstacles to speak out on their behalf.

Instead of doing all this—the skydive and everything else—you could just play golf or cards or sit around watching TV like a lot of people do. What’s the main goal that makes you you push yourself out of your comfort zone?

Ellett: My fear of heights is major. Cannot go up a skyscraper and look down. My first flight abroad, which was to Kefalonia, was nerve racking. Of course now flying is OK, but the height thing is very real. I have been told that when you leave the plane you have no sense of the height from two miles up. Apparently that makes one feel better?

As for the stutter, have had it since I was very young. I use to live in a town called Gillingham, and to this day find it hard to pronounce the “g.” Worst times were at registration in school. I could not pronounce the letter “y” for the life of me. Every time my name was called, I would say “yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy” but the word “yes” never ever came out. My way around it was to just say “Miss” or “Sir” instead of “Yes, Miss” or “Yes, Sir,” but was told off so many times for incorrectly answering the call that I just went further into myself.

Nevertheless I worked my way from a machine operator to that of production manager. The latter requires reasonable communication skills. In many stutterers the mind is very clever at thinking quickly and putting another word or sentence in front of a possible word block. Mind you, if the topic is something that I am passionate about, that does help me out. Don’t get embarrassed as much as I used too.

Yes, I am outside my comfort zone big-time with this skydive. But I am doing it mainly because I care passionately about the animals. I frequently think of our dog Andi’s story, and the heart-rending rescue of another dog, Choccy, with which I was directly involved, and even now I get upset. Maybe guys are not meant to be moved and emotional and so on, but believe you me, I have shed more than a tear or two.

So in reply to your question, the welfare of the animals is my main goal in life.

Diva: You adopted at least one dog from Kefalonia—that’s Andie, right? Can you tell me any background you know about her?

Ellett: We first met Andie when we went back to ARK to hand over the proceeds from a boot fair fundraiser that my wife and I had organised. She was a gentle dog who seemed to always stay huddled in a shallow hole underneath an olive tree. We fell in love with her and visited her several times.

It was when we told Melissa that we wanted to adopt her that she told us that Andie was a special girl of Dionisis Kappatos, one of ARK’s founders. He was the one who had found her near to death on Mt. Aenos tied to a tree in a storm, and he thought that she had been there for quite some time. She actually lived with Dionisis and Marina until they moved house and then they put her into ARK.

Diva: Sounds like your wife Chris has been very supportive of your efforts for the animals of Kefalonia, and has been doing things like helping you transfer logos of your jump’s sponsors onto your “flight suit.” Spouses are sometimes not so supportive of those of us who get involved in animal welfare. Anything you’d like to crow about Chris?

Ellett: Chris has been wonderful and a rock. She has supported me throughout and is always there for me. I know sometimes that this all gets way too much for her but despite this she never complains. She is always behind me in everything I do.

She has done a marvelous job on the suit and it was her idea to save money and transfer the logos on instead of expensively getting a printer to do it. At the time of the rescue of Choccy, she more or less gave up three days of her holiday.

I could not wish for a better companion or a better wife.

Diva: Anything else you’d like to include in this interview?

Ellett: Yes, I cannot emphasize enough what Melissa Beamish has done in all of this. From the start she has been there. It was Melissa who first showed my wife and me around ARK. She was so nice that I guess she was very much a part of my inspiration to carry on helping. She has kept in touch constantly with messages and photos. And where Choccy is concerned, she is such a help keeping me up to date with her progress. She has been so good with helping regain her health and confidence since she was rescued.

Diva: We at Rescue Diva are always delighted to give Melissa a shout-out. She’s a good friend and a volunteer extraordinaire for ARK. Many thanks for your time on this interview, John, and for all you’re doing for animals.

Ellett: Thank you so much for all that you are doing too. I can see that animal welfare is a large part of your life.

Diva: It is indeed, but you’re the brave one, barreling out of a plane on the animals’ behalf! Wishing you all the best on Saturday. We at Rescue Diva would be way too wimpy to do it ourselves, but we and all the rest of your fans certainly will be with you in spirit!

See John Ellett’s moving video on YouTube about Choccy and Loudi, and this one about Andie.

Don’t forget to FOLLOW RescueDiva.com (FREE!). Just hit the purple button above and fill in your email address). Once we reach 500 new subscriptions we’ll donate an extra 200 euros to ARK for a total of 500 euros to sponsor John’s Jump!

Also why not GIVE directly to ARK to make Jumpin’ John’s skydive a big success?! Go to the ARK donation page, then use either their bank details or PayPal account. Please state in the notes that the donation is for John’s Skydive so that they can keep track of how much the event has raised.

Don’t miss any Diva! Please hit the FOLLOW button above (FREE!) to receive email notification of our new posts.

Rescue Diva depends on sales of our romantic fiction to make donations to fundraisers like John Elletts, to groups like ARK, and also to rescue and sponsor animals like Ipomoni, who was a three-month old puppy on a chain, so as to create many real-life happy endings.

For just $2 you can enjoy a fun read, to spice up your life, and help replenish our rescue fund!

We, the animals, and our fellow rescuers will thank you kindly!

Rescue Diva proudly sponsors needy animals in the U.S. and around the world.

For example we help Kefalonia Animal Trust (KATs) provide free spay/neuter for hundreds of animals per year, which is one of the best ways to prevent the abandonment and misery of puppies like Noah and Kyla.

We also do in-the-trenches rescues of angels like Robin, Chance, and Tiger, with help from San Diego Animal Support Foundation, and of Marisol and Lisa, with help from Last Chance at Life.

Katerina Lorenzatos Makris is a career journalist, author, and editor. Her fiction includes 17 novels for Simon and Schuster, E.P. Dutton, Avon, and other major publishers (under the name Kathryn Makris), as well as a teleplay for CBS-TV, and a short story for The Bark magazine. She has written hundreds of articles for regional wire services and for outlets such as National Geographic Traveler, The San Francisco Chronicle, Travelers’ Tales, NBC’s Petside.com, Animal Issues Reporter.com, and Examiner.com (Animal Policy Examiner).

Together with coauthor Shelley Frost, Katerina wrote a step-by-step guide for hands-on, in-the-trenches dog rescue, Your Adopted Dog: Everything You Need to Know About Rescuing and Caring for a Best Friend in Need (The Lyons Press).