****UPDATE JANUARY 2022****
The Greyhound Community rocks! Our Capital Campaign Fundraiser has received donations of $21,000! Stay tuned for updates on the progress of the retrofitting of the new haul van and our first maiden voyage!
Many THANK ROOS for all that each of you continue to do!
GREYT LOVE RETIREMENT CAPITAL CAMPAIGN FUNDRASIER IS NOW CLOSED AS OF JANUARY 2022!
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RETIRED RACERS ARE IN NEED OF YOUR ASSISTANCE!
GREYT LOVE RETIREMENT CAPITAL CAMPAIGN FUNDRAISER IS NOW OPEN!
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Greyt Love Retirement is launching a capital campaign to purchase a replacement greyhound transport van. Charlotte, 0ur existing haul bus, has retired and our goal for the new retired racing greyhound haul van is $20k.
The new retired racing greyhound haul van will transport up to 14 hounds and will support continued adoptions with our adoption partner, James River Greyhounds, in the Central Virginia area. Any donated amount is appreciated! Get the full story on where we are beginning below!
RETIRED RACERS ARE IN NEED OF YOUR ASSISTANCE!
GREYT LOVE RETIREMENT CAPITAL CAMPAIGN FUNDRAISER IS NOW OPEN
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We retire from our jobs, our greyhounds retire from their racing careers, and even road warriors, like our beloved GLR haul bus “Charlotte” had to retire.
Sadly, Charlotte has run her last race. Her transport career spanned over three years. She made round-trips to adoption kennels in Birmingham, Pensacola, Sarasota, Jacksonville and Wheeling. We celebrate her awesome and prolific contribution to our adoption efforts as she carried over 450 retired racers, covered over 27,000 miles! And Charlotte wasn’t alone in her efforts, our dedicated volunteers contributed nearly 400 volunteer hours transporting her precious cargo!
We know Charlotte would want our greyhound transport efforts to continue. We have begun searching for a replacement retired racing greyhound haul vehicle! While many other adoption groups have ceased operating due to the lack of available greyhounds, we have established important relationships with owners and trainers in Wheeling, WV and Tri-State, WV. As a result of our efforts, they have entrusted us with their awesome athletes as they transition into retirement!
Charlotte hauled up to 20 retired racers per trip from the tracks to the GLR foster shelter in Richmond, Virginia, where the hounds await vetting prior to being placed into their forever homes. At the current time, without Charlotte in service, we have had to rely on volunteers using their personal vehicles to transport hounds from West Virginia to the foster shelter. That means at best, three dogs per vehicle, so you can see how not having Charlotte available limits the number of retired racers we can transport!
And now the GOOD news: we have found a haul vehicle that will be much more reliable and allows us to haul up to 14 retired racers from Wheeling and Tri-State! This vehicle is a used Dodge Sprinter with a Mercedes diesel engine. New models of this Sprinter are valued at over $55,000, yet we have been fortunate to find this vehicle at a much lower cost. We will be using Charlotte’s primary haul components (crates, etc) to retro-fit the van, and we will also be scrapping Charlotte for parts. Funds generated from scrapping will help defray any additional retro-fitting expenses incurred.
And now, we are off to the races – to officially open up the GLR Capital Campaign Fundraiser for a Replacement Retired Racing Greyhound Hauler with a GOAL OF $20,000! This amount not only covers the cost of the used Sprinter, but also includes anticipated retro-fitting expenses and a maintenance buffer.
Although we know this is a very ambitious fundraising goal, the volunteer search committee strongly supports our ongoing mission to bring more retired racers to the central Virginia area for adoption through our partner adoption group, James River Greyhounds. Without a reliable haul van available to us, we will be limited in how many retired racers we can transport at one time. But with this Sprinter, we will be able to continue to transport multiple hounds.
If you are interested in contributing to this fundraiser, donations can be made through:
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Our website, www.greytloveretirement.org using the “Donate” button;
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Paypal, to info@greytloveretirement.org; or,
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Checks can be mailed to Greyt Love Retirement, P.O. Box 363, Hanover, Virginia, 23069.
Any amount is appreciated, and all donations will assist us in reaching our goal to continue on this awesome journey, placing retired athletes into their forever homes!
One last item of business: we will need a new name for the next haul van! Therefore, we would like to announce that the person contributing the largest donation will have the honor of (appropriately) naming the haul van!
As always, from all of the hounds that have come through our doors and for all of the hounds still waiting to come through – a GREYT BIG THANK ROO to you!
P. O. Box 363 Hanover, Virginia 23069
a 501c3 Non-Profit Organization
Federal ID 47-5441421