IRINA’S SHELTERED HEARTS ANIMAL REFUGE, ROMANIA … CARAVAN TRANSPORT FOR VOLUNTEERS/HELPERS

I have supported IRINA'S SHELTERED HEARTS RESCUE, ROMANIA (ISH) for some years. Irina is a 30 something year old woman who has dedicated her life to saving animals ... cats, dogs, horses, cows, rabbits, you name it she saves them. She has almost 200 animals at her refuge near Olteanca, Romania, and works her socks off!

Irina and her elderly, sick mother live in a far from luxurious property that has no running water (well water only) and therefore no bathroom/toilet ... in fact the facilities are non-existent.

Irina has a few supporters/volunteers who visit from time to time but she has to vacate her bedroom and sleep in the same bedroom and bed as her mother, when the visitors arrive. Obviously this is not an ideal situation and it causes stress and upset to Margareta (mum).

With this thought, I advertised and got, a caravan to accommodate visitors. Not only did I get one caravan ... I GOT TWO!! Both given free. One is a 4 berth caravan with a separate double bed and two singles ... ideal for the volunteers and/or visitors. The second caravan is smaller with two single beds. Irina needs a quarantine area (she currently shares her bedroom with the kittens and puppies, some who have been bagged up and thrown over her fence) so there is thought that she will be able to convert the smaller caravan into an area where new arrivals will be able spend their first couple of weeks to ensure they are free from disease such as distemper, parvo etc. and thereby not contaminating the other animals that are at ISH.

So, my request is this ... my husband and I are going to travel down from Normandy, France (where we live) to Romania in September this year with the bigger caravan AND my husband will go on his own with the smaller caravan in June ... if we can raise the money. The journey is 2,500 km each way (so 5,000 km round trip). Pulling the smaller caravan one way will eat around 500 euros in diesel and the return without the caravan will probably be something like 350 euros. Add to that road tolls and we're looking at needing at the very least 1,000 euros for each journey (obviously the bigger caravan will take more diesel to tow but we are prepared to put some of our own money to this second trip, if necessary).

Any money raised over the 2,000 euros amount, and not used for the transportation of the two caravans, will be donated to ISH. I will be totally transparent all the way ... you have my word.

Keith has visited Irina in Romania in September 2015, stayed for a couple of days and then drove back with our two 'unadoptable' babies, Chester (3 legged and blind) and Lulu (considered 'invisible' because she hid away all the time).

Both my husband and I do a lot for charities and we are always fund-raising and spending our own time (and often money) in this regard. My husband is a secouriste with the Croix Rouge (Red Cross) here in France and we both support a local cat/dog refuge, raising money for animal operations and treatments, helping with the cost of adoptions etc. We also have our own rescue animals ... 29 in total. All have been abandoned or found. 3 dogs (2 Romanian from Irina, seen in the video), 6 cats, 10 chickens (many ex barn chickens), 2 geese, 1 duck, 2 donkeys, 1 tortoise, 4 sheep

CAN YOU HELP ISH PLEASE? Any donation, however small, will help considerably.

THANK YOU FOR READING.

You can visit Irina's Sheltered Hearts Rescue, Romania on FaceBook ... here's the link. https://www.facebook.com/groups/535950286460893/