Such generosity!

Animal Rescuing is so very difficult. Well it is when you do it alone.

I am so thankful for Karen who gave us ARK, a space where we can all convene together for the same cause we are all working towards. If it was not for this website, the miracles that have transpired in Korea among the English speaking population for the abandoned animals would not have been possible. Karen gives such a generous amount of her time to create this space! She is always concerned with making it as effective as it can be and works endlessly on improvements. For this I am thankful.

But what is a space without a community? That space would be void and empty. It is the individuals that all come together that makes ARK the active and positive force it is. Each one of you contribute to ARK. Some do so by making animal profiles, some write articles, some give opinions, some simply crosspost and other donate their time, money and other resources to support each others' efforts. All of these actions and more are so very vital! When I started volunteering at KAPS, I kind of started out alone. There was no adoption or fostering coordinator, no program in place for fostering, not even any publication about adopting and foster for expats before I came along. Emma had volunteer for quite sometime and had previously built a trusting relationship with Sunnan. This helped to make things smoother in the beginning. Soon our team grew to three and then four. In the beginning, coordinating all fostering and adoptions by myself was difficult and limited my ability to help a large number of animals. Once our team grew, we were able to make a greater impact. I am no longer with KAPS for family reasons, but my time there illustrated how much a community/village/team/group means to rescuing.

From the beginning, Lil Johnny http://www.animalrescuekorea.org/blog/raygeenah/please-help-rescue-a-yor... required teamwork to rescue him from his lonely existence. Then it took a team to help him overcome the effects of that neglect. http://www.animalrescuekorea.org/blog/adoptbullies/johnny-the-lil-yorkie...
Once again, ARK came thru for Johnny in a way you cant imagine!

See we were only 60,000 krw away from meeting our goal of 500,000 krw. When an angel who plays for a baseball team here in Korea inquired about Johnny.

My wife and I are looking to adopt a small dog to accompany our stay here in Seoul, South Korea. While we were looking online, we ran across the donation page and saw Johnny. Since the both of us are animal lover's of all kinds, naturally we wanted to help you reach your goal of 650,000W / $580 USD to pay for the vaccines and heart worm infection for both dogs. We understand that you are soliciting another dog with Johnny and Kathryn and I would like to donate the 650,000W to pay for the entire treatment.

The only thing that we ask is that we get a phone number for the person who is currently keeping Johnny and that we receive updates on Johnny's condition and recovery. We hope that isn't too much to ask. Also, would it be possible to visit Johnny and go to the vet with him to make sure everything is administered? I know that some of this may be a lot to ask for, but the amount of money that we would like to donate is too much to not follow up on and make sure that the puppy is being taken care of.

I am and was that morning flabbergasted to get this generous email! In fact, I waited a day to reply just to make sure I understood it correctly! I connected this family with Corpsgirl and they visited Johnny. Corpsgirl explained again that his care was only an **estimated** amount. She went on to explain that sometimes a dog's care can fluctuate. So the family has decided to sponsor Johnny's heartworm treatment and any care from this point. What that means is from the original estimate:
Estimate for Johnny's care:

• Mar 13th 150,000 W .............................Blood work, heartworm test, grooming

Pay for by the original donations made to Johnny

• Estimating 350,00 W.............................Heartworm treatment
  (please note this is a very conservative figure and may cost more in the long run.)

Sponsored by the family.

• Estimating 150,000 W ..........................Followup appointments and vaccines--
  Sponsored by the family.

In other words from the 450,000krw we raised, 150,000 krw will go towards Johnny. The rest of his care will be sponsored by this family. And the remaining, 300,000krw will go towards the other foster animals.

Now, this same family is considering adopting lil Johnny and is working closely with Dr Oh at Chungwha on his care.

We already was so closed to our goal thanks to our ARK community but then to get this other offer was beyond belief! When I was working with KAPS, Corpsgirl rescued 9+ small dogs from our shelter** in less than a year. So many of them were on their last leg that it cost her a fortune to restore their health, the adoption fees rarely covered the vet care. I often felt very guilty for telling her about yet another dog in need. Never once did she complain, or say no, for her it was her joy to take them in and transform them into the pets they were designed to be.

She called me up after Johnny arrived to her house and said "Nicole I need you to help me fund raise." It was the only time she has ever asked for help. See earlier this year she battled the K-9 flu with 3 fosters, and her own dogs who contracted it from the foster dogs. She also had to go ahead and spay 2 females recently which a female dog can cost 300,000+ krw. All at once hundreds for K-9 flu, 600,000 for spays, and then 300+ for heartworms she was quickly running out of funds.

Now that we have over reached our goal for Johnny, as promised we will be able to filter the other donations into Corpgirl's other fosters!

http://www.animalrescuekorea.org/blog/adoptbullies/johnny-the-lil-yorkie... **Please note ... If we have raised the full 500,000krw by that time then please know the rest of the money will go towards other vet bills for Corpsgirl's other foster dogs.
(We are in the process of collecting receipts and creating a donation request for the canine flu she battled a few months ago with 3 foster dogs! If you would like to check with her vet, Chungwha, Dr. Oh can fill you in on the hundreds of dollars she has already spent on foster animals just in the last year. She works very closely with Dr. Oh and follows his protocol to a tee.)

Please know I have refrain from using names in order to maintain privacy of the one who donated. Also, it is always my goal to be completely honest and forth coming with donations. I strive to be honest and transparent at all times because many of you have helped me reach my own goals in the past for animals. I always want to respect you and your sacrifice for helping me in the work I strive to do. I believe in being trustworthy above all!

*Since I have mentioned the name of the vet, out of privacy for them, I do not want to post the receipts here. But if you would like to verify anything spent on the dogs, please contact me [email protected].

If you have any questions feel free to contact me. I have posted a collage of the dogs Corpsgirl and I have rescued together! These are the same dogs that the excess amount of donations will help supplement the care they received while in foster care.
** Corpsgirl is an equal opportunity shelter rescuer.

ARK as always you have been generous and allowed others the chance to be generous--THANK YOU EVERYONE!