This is one of the Dober vans.
It's 15 years old, it has 225,000 miles, and it has been everywhere.
We make trips all over Illinois such as Carbondale, Dixon, Mattoon, Peoria, Dwight, Gilman, Kankakee,
and occasionally we make longer hauls to Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia and even the Carolinas.
These vans are so important to us, we rely on them so heavily for everything we do.
Food pickups, vet runs, transports, meat and greets, foster care, drop off, pickup.
Pam and her dedicated team of volunteers go above and beyond to help rescue dogs and cats.
They foster these animals, provide transportation for them, and make sure they receive proper
medical care and treatment.
Over the years they have brought countless animals to me for examination, vaccination,
blood work, radiographs, surgery, heart room treatment, and a multitude of other treatments.
One of my favorite transports was Jojo.
He's from the south, he had a lean-to that was considered a doghouse, and he was on a
chain 24-7.
I drove down from Chicago to Indianapolis to pick him up.
We got stuck in traffic in Chicago because of one inch of snow.
So the whole trip from Indianapolis to his temporary foster home was seven or eight hours.
He was in the car, he did great, he helped me keep my sanity, he was such a love bug.
He's recently been adopted and is in a very happy home, so go Jojo.
We drove over 500 miles one way down to Tennessee and picked up Lady Bell along with three others
from a backyard breeding situation.
When we first saw Lady Bell, it was so obvious that she had a horrible case of mange, but
later we found out that she also was positive for heartworm and earlickia.
When we would open the door, she would just look at us like, thank you so much for helping
me.
Sometimes transports don't go as planned.
Extremely cold temperatures in a chaotic airport contributed to our most famous rescue transport,
Madison.
We'll rescue not once, but twice, Madison the Doberman is back on route to her home
in Wisconsin.
She was saved from the streets of Houston and put on a plane to Chicago Friday, but
the dog slipped out of her harness at Midway Airport and got lost.
Volunteers from IDR and Lost Dogs, Illinois, who helped us a lot, Facebook, the public,
the media helped look for her.
Madison was found five days later with the help of a good Samaritan who saw one of 750
bilingual flyers posted in the area.
Madison was skinny and suffered from dehydration and frostbite, in addition to her existing
broken spine and heartworm.
It took many trips to different vets to get her well again.
First, Veterinary Specialty Center mended her fractured spine and saw her for several
follow-up visits.
Then she went to Dr. Paul at the Animal Care Clinic for heartworm treatment visits and
spay.
After recovering in two different foster homes, she was adopted to a wonderful family.
You want to make sure that if you are taking a long trip that that van is going to be reliable
so that you and the animals you are transporting will be safe.
Please help us raise the funds for a new reliable transport van to save even more animals.
Thank you so much for your support.
We cannot do this without you.
