END OF YEAR PRASING 💙
What a year!!!! We are in awe of the incredible blessings God's been doing at and through
Roatan Rescue.
This spring I thought we would need to close the shelter doors. We had all of our eggs in our cuddly basket, then over-saturation and restructuring on their end broke our basket. We all needed to step back and look at the big picture. We went from #2 in fundraising out of 2400 rescues to barely receiving 10% of the typical campaign results of prior years. We were stretched so thin and struggling to provide daily care to the shelter and clinic animals. We were blessed with helpers who jumped in with new eyes and ideas and were able to cut the budget by almost 50%! The tough decision to end some working relationships with dedicated employees for the sake of the rescue was made. The quick action to consolidate locations to keep the rescues shined a light on many line items in our budget we were able to get rid of by consolidating locations. It's from this point we were able to also revise our feed order and change up the protocols to avoid wasting feed, staffing, and care needed.
Dra Patricia Alejandra, A True Pillar of Love and Dedication for the Animals of Roatan
I'm unbelievably impressed by our head Veterinarian Dra Patricia Alejandra. She's been with Roatan Rescue for over 18 months and that is why we see the light at the end of the tunnel after these very difficult months. She, too, is in Roatan because God called her to be as well. The difference between her and I is that she's being sponsored by the rescue and depends on her payroll to support her children back in Nicaragua. She's just one of the single moms employed by Roatan Rescue. She was promoted to Director two months ago and is a true pillar of love and dedication for the animals. We love watching her teaching the junior vet and staff, leading by example. The rescue is blessed beyond words because of her.
Choosing to make God #1 and state that Roatan Rescue is a faith-based organization is the only way we could move forward.
With the fire lit once again from watching humans and hounds healing, finding inner peace, fulfilling God's will, children learning, recovering addicts connecting the love of God through animals - it's magic.
Roatan Rescue marks 4 years next month
I'm pushing myself out of my comfort zone, picking up the phone, sharing all of the good & bad, my mistakes, and needing help and support more than ever before. I am jumping into the loudness God has blessed me with to stand up and proudly brag about all the good GOD is doing. My passion for creating God's “heaven on earth" for His long-term goal has never burned brighter. To whom much is given, much is expected. Because of you and your love and support, Roatan Rescue marks 4 years next month. Wow. Think it all began with pushing a wheelbarrow down the streets with kids in tow, leading and teaching by example. We need your support to continue the work God's doing through RR.
We were invited to have a donation box at the airport here on the island
There's so much to be grateful for, and seeing the massive difference between what was and what has become, recharges the very reason we moved to Roatan in the first place.
Here's a link to the FIRST promo video I've been proud of in years. We have been blown away by the blessings from the broken and God's new creations! We were invited to have a donation box at the airport here on the island. We are the 1st rescue to be invited into the airport, and we even were asked where we would like it to be. This is huge! Our donation box will be placed in the departure area and will shine a light on our work and dedication to being the "largest dog and cat sanctuary in Honduras" and bring in donations and support. We get emails all the time from tourists seeing dogs at the airport while they visit and want to help. The fact that we were invited in and presented this HUGE blessing was honestly hard to believe. If you've done anything in Honduras, you know, nothing is easy and smooth. This was! The design deposit of $220 was paid, and for $1,000, we can finish the build & bank box with lock and get the graphics printed. The project is coming along and only needs the marketing print before it can be installed.
We have had steady adoptions over the last couple of weeks, with 10 dogs and 2 cats getting adopted.
We love watching the connection between our rescues and their new families. When I brought Justice to her forever home, she pulled me up the hill to the house. This was after her first car ride, where she shook the whole time and had me dragging her to get in the car in the first place. We rehomed our 3 ponies several months ago, and they are thriving in their new home at Roatan Farm Park Seeing them flourish means everything! Putting the animals first is what we're about, and knowing when to let go and when to ask for help is vital. When we consolidated locations, we moved our remaining horses to the backfield at the sanctuary and finished our horse stables.
We have received our OFFICIAL Honduran NGO paperwork and are so proud to have that established for the Roatan Rescues' journey.
We're leading the way in shelter management to reduce animal suffering and promote the healing process of our car accident victims. We're proud to have been called to Honduras and love the good humans all over the island who are the hands and feet because of your generosity. It's magical to see the real, in-your-face changes happening. Just last week, someone found a hit-and-run victim, Louis, and found a way to drive the dog an hour to the rescue on the east side to help the animal. She knew about Roatan Rescue because she's one of our many clinic low-income clients with her pet dogs. She's leading by the example she's been shown. That's amazing.
I'll admit it, I'm not a tech person,
and I do 99% of my "work" from my phone.
The tech, emails, and marketing aspects of the job. I prayed over needing help for months, and finally, Roatan Rescue was blessed with a greatly talented addition to our team. Our marketing was off from the PayPal link to our website links and information to our QR codes. I had no idea I was shown all the bugs. I can't even begin to share every single problem she's caught and fixed. RR has needed this for a long time. I've been trying to learn more and jump on zooms and follow marketing strategy for rescues, etc., and honestly - RR needs its administration team, including our social media support. 🙄 Running the clinic out of the rescue has gotten us the petty cash needed to purchase water, pay the feed order's delivery charge, etc. We're confident that we can turn into a self-sustainable rescue by offering our in-home vet care having our mobile ultrasound, teeth cleaning, and vet services to many ex-pats as we build the mobile clinic business. This service is needed more than ever as construction and accidents increase here on the island. When we consolidated locations, we were able to secure and inventory medicines and surgical supplies we weren't aware of, which has fully equipped our clinic at the sanctuary with more than enough for the mobile vet clinic as well. Vaccines and Bravetco, and dewormer are a few of the medicines needed, but we're stocked besides that. GOD IS SO GOOD!
Cruise ship season is back!
And we're beyond blessed to have our cruise ship fundraiser booth at the Macaw Market 2-3 times a week bringing in an average of $150 a day, with funds only increasing with more merchandise and promotional items to sell. We have had more “God moments” by being there than I can share. Macaw Market and the businesses there are among the many rewarding relationships Roatan Rescue has been able to grow throughout the island. We hosted our fall Cornhole tournament last month, raising $1500 for spay and neuter surgeries with sutures costing $2 each, exceeding our goal of 700 sutures from the 700 spay and neuter surgeries we performed last year.
Ready to make your end-of-year donation? We're only here doing the work on the ground, sweating under the hot Caribbean sun, showing up every day because of your generous hearts. Our monthly donors have risen from $1900 to $4455.
Can you become a monthly donor?
Increase your monthly support?
Thank you for being here with us for the last 4 years. Thank you for giving to the animals, providing for the humans, and growing up right along with us at Roatan Rescue. The work we're doing brings tears to my eyes! I can't believe the magical miracles we get to experience. It's what life is all about. The blessings are too many to list!
I'm pushing myself out of my comfort zone (I have horrible social anxiety) and doubling down on why we're here. Your support makes this all happen. We're only the hands and feet because of your generosity and kindness. Thank you to the board members (ALL of whom have adopted from the rescue) donors for increasing their monthly donations, joining the team to spread the word a few hours a month, putting time and energy into brochures and presentations, advertising, volunteering, and so much more.
Do you have questions or concerns? Let's chat! I have a wifi phone line and can connect on FB msg too!
I'm available by email or text, too; gotta be creative living in Honduras! We will be starting monthly meetings with the board in the new year, putting together a board of advisors, praying for additional directors, etc. All to make the best Roatan Rescue for the animals and island for His legacy & long run for the island.