Reimburse Expenses to Bring Rollo to US home

Mike Schroeder is organizing this fundraiser.

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Hi Everybody. We could really use you help.

Here is what we are trying to achieve:

Get Rollo adopted to our family here in the United States which includes expenses to have him escorted from Macedonia and all his paperwork and other adoption fees.

Fundraising will be to reimburse me personally, for the expenses incurred for the adoption of Rollo from Macedonia to the United States.

This is Rollo

Here is the story.

Our friends and colleagues in Macedonia (My work colleagues) run a dog rescue and shelter in the city of Skopje in North Macedonia. Anastasija T, is the founder and operates the shelter with a group of volunteers.

They do amazing work but there is an apathetic attitude in Macedonia towards caring for stray, wounded, and sick dogs and funding is extremely difficult. From over 2000 people who follow their cause, they struggle to meet their monthly expenses of just $2000. This allows them to care for up to 90 dogs.

Despite this, the rescue has re-homed nearly 500 dogs since 2019. They especially cater to dogs that would otherwise be left to fend for themselves.

Recently, I had the opportunity to visit the team in Macedonia for business purposes. I had always wanted to see the rescue to see if maybe I could convince my friends and colleagues here in the US to help them out. Maddie, my daughter, joined me for a couple of days and we went with Anastasija to see the shelter and discuss their needs.

As we were discussing, a story played out, right in front of our eyes. As we we're touring the facility and talking with Anastasija, our colleagues and friends Sara and Zhivkica we're following a few minutes behind in a separate car. On the road outside they encountered a very weary and thin young puppy, homeless and wandering. They picked him up to see what could be done for him.

Unfortunately, the shelter did not have room for him as they are full to capacity. Many times, the difficult decision must be made, such as we faced with Rollo, to turn dogs away. The shelter has been unable to expand or improve the facility due to lack of local and government support for their project.

Luckily, for Rollo, this group, Sara, Zhivkica, Maddie and Anastasija, leaving Rollo to fend for himself was not an acceptable outcome. With complete unselfishness, the team brought the puppy (whom they named Rollo) back to Skopje

They spent the whole day trying to get a vet to see Rollo. Since he was a stray, and there was fear of him spreading illness to healthy pets, this was a great challenge. With persistence. They were able to persuade a vet to treat him. He was Jaundiced, exhausted, dehydrated and very sick. They treated him with antibiotics and released him back to us.

Without hesitation, the group agreed to foster Rollo until a home could be found for him. They bought all of Rollo's supplies, food, a bed, puppy pads, medicine with their own money. For the next several days the team returned him to the vet for daily antibiotic injections, had him groomed, and walked and fed him every day.

Thanks to Sara who has been his constant companion and the team (Maksim and Anastasija) in Skopje and encouragement from his supporters here and elsewhere (Me, Maddie, Jen, Zhivkisa) he is now healing, growing and ready to move to his new home..

My family and I have a plan to foster Rollo in our home in the United States. Eventually, Maddie will be his permanent guardian, best friend and confidant but she also can not take him now. Until then, we will take care of him here in our home in South Carolina along with our Dog and three cats.

We are looking to raise money to provide for Rollo's trip back to the United States, accompanied by Maddie, fees for his transfer, paperwork, vaccinations and medicine and any of the other fees associated with his relocation. We estimate this cost at 1500-2000 USD.

Everything else we can raise, and we'll take whatever anybody can offer will go to support the efforts of the the shelter. We will simply forward the funds to them to use as fit. They are a registered charity and can provide a full accounting of funds as well as an operational statement if that makes you more comfortable.

In addition, the rescue is in dire need of funds to continue running and hopefully expand their facility to be able to handle more Rollo's in the future.

In the meantime, he is well taken care of and we are busy doing this and preparing for his journey to join us here.