We have some good news to share!
As you know, we had a VERY short timeline to raise the money needed AND build an entire new sanctuary to include perimeter fencing, fencing for two play yards, 60+ kennels with roofing, additional improvements to an existing building structure, ground leveling, and actually moving 120+ dogs. It was going to be impossible for us to raise the money, get everything built, and move the dogs before the May 24th eviction date.
Thankfully, once we raised the money and started the build, Sarah was able to present evidence that we had the funds and that construction had begun... and we were able to negotiate a 3 week extension for the dogs at the current shelter. The police and the city have been notified of this, and there is security in place to protect the dogs from anyone who has made threats to poison them.
The team is working as diligently as possible to get the new shelter completed. We are expecting to move the small dogs and special needs dogs over first this coming weekend, followed by the big dogs next week.
We will keep everyone updated! Thank you to everyone who supported our efforts to keep these pups safe and get them moved to their new sanctuary!
An additional receipt for materials this week ($975):
Current spend: $15,323
We are SO thankful to each and every donor for supporting our campaign to help Rescuing in Lebanon and the 120 dogs being evicted from their shelter.
Total raised through the campaign after fees: $22,386!
Construction is underway. Most of the perimeter fencing is complete, and the concrete is being poured for the base of the kennels. We will continue to share videos of the progress on TikTok in the coming days (and weeks). We are aiming to get the most important components completed ASAP so we can begin moving the dogs over, and we will continue adding and expanding as we go.
Thank you again... not only to the donors, but to everyone who shared our posts and engaged to help us reach more people. This was truly a group effort, and we could not have done it without all of you!
Below are some of the receipts for the materials purchased so far.
Thank you to everyone who has donated so far to our campaign to help the 120 dogs at our partner rescue in Beirut, Rescuing in Lebanon.
We have found that we need to increase our campaign budget due to the following:
1. Donorbox prompts donors to pay the processing fees, but they calculate that extra fee paid into the total raised. So if someone donates $100, they pay $104 and the amount raised on the campaign increases by $104 rather than the $100 that we actually receive. With many people donating and including the fee in their donation, the amount raised becomes greatly skewed to what is actually received. Currently the total raised shows $14,369, but NET raised after fees is $13,365... giving us a $1,000 deficit on the campaign without even reaching the initial 16k needed. So, we are increasing the budget to include room for the Donorbox/PayPal/Stripe processing fees.
2. We also incur additional fees when transferring money to Lebanon, which we did not account for in the initial budget.
3. As we are purchasing materials and building out what is needed, we are finding that some of the original materials quoted are not going to work or are now more expensive than quoted. For example, the original roofing that was quoted for us was a material that was not insulated, and we do not want the dogs baking in their kennels under the hot sun! We are needing to switch from "tutia" to "sandwich panels", which are more expensive.
4. To expedite the build process, we have also had to hire 2 more workers to help complete the construction before the eviction date of May 24.
The receipts we have so far are in Arabic, so I have requested English versions that I will post when I get them!
Thank you to everyone who has helped so far, and for your understanding in the budget adjustment! We will just have to keep fundraising until we reach the new goal, as we want what's absolutely best for the dogs!