Donate to ROAM
Due to the fact that ROAM is 100% volunteer driven, we greatly appreciate donations to aid us in attaining the much needed equipment and supplies for our searches. While we have personally purchased a good portion of the equipment needed, we can definitely use a few more traps, slip leashes, safety vests and other such things. Paper, ink, fuel, bait-food and other supplies are very expensive and most certainly add up for both the owner, and the ROAM searchers and volunteers. We most often assist owners of lost dogs (in particular), to flood the area with posters of their lost dog so that he/she has the best chance of being ‘seen’ by the general public. Any monies collected will go to either our ‘ROAM Supply Fund’ to help offset some of these costs for our admins and volunteers and the ‘ROAMER Fund’. This fund will be specifically geared at assisting the owners of dogs or cats (posted on ROAM), who may have been injured while out on their own. This will be an emergency fund that may enable ROAM to give the ‘go-ahead’ to a vet to begin emergency/comfort treatment on an animal (in the absence of an owner), or where the owner is not immediately able to come up with the required funds to begin emergency treatment for their pet.
Dear ROAM, How can we possibly express our gratitude to the ROAM team?? Our cat Blue went missing 1.5 years ago and you are the reason he is back home with our family today. We rescued blue when he was a kitten through Dee’s Orphan Kitten Fund. He was found in a dumpster downtown with a broken tail. He instantly became a part of our family and a best friend to our daughter (age 2.5 at the time). He was the sweetest, most beautiful cat we had ever seen. We had 3 years with Blue until Boxing Day of 2018 when he went outside and didn’t return. With your help we posted missing posters everywhere and searched for months on end. I remember one member of your team encouraging me not to give up hope, that her cat had gone missing for 10 months and was found safe and healthy. We kept up hope for about a year before we started to realize he wasn’t coming back. That didn’t stop our daughter Hayden. She continued to talk about Blue regularly. Almost every picture she’d draw and every story she’d write in her school journal was about Blue. Two days ago when you texted me that picture of him I literally could not believe my eyes. A year and a half later???! The staff at the Point Ellis House where Blue had been spotted were so accommodating and helpful. The fact that you had him trapped within 24 hours is unbelievable!!! You were all so excited…. it’s extremely obvious how dedicated you all are to your cause. Blue is back home today and it’s like he never left. You warned me he could be frightened for a while which is what I also expected but the second I called his name he came right into my arms. Hayden has her best friend back thanks to you and we look forward to having many more years with him! I don’t think I could ever EVER express how grateful we are for what you have done for us. We will never forget this!!! Thank you! ❤️❤️❤️ Leanne, Nick & Hayden
Leanne (July 4, 2020)
When our cat Harry disappeared, we were referred to ROAM.BC (amongst others) by our vet and found their quick response & organization incredible; from offering a ready-to-print poster and tips on how to help logically coax your animal home (when emotions flood in) and separate personal support emails, we felt the fortification of much encouragement! We had no idea there was such a service! Thankfully he arrived home on his own and ROAMBC’s closure was one of kind elation! A huge huge thank you for your readiness and help! – Faye
Faye
My name is David, I lost my best friend Griffin this morning after searching and losing all hope I phoned the pound, police, fled search and to my amazement ROAM – Reuniting Owners with Animals Missing was at my door within 15 minutes with boots on the ground, after a quick detailed conversation about habits and characteristics of my best buddy griffin they went to work. After approximately 90 mins I started getting very depressed once more and then the phone rang Rachel had found my dog and brought him back immediately. My depression turned into inspiration from the people that had volunteered out of the goodness of their Hearts and I instantly need to repay them some how. When I asked what could I do to feel like I’ve contributed to ROAM she told me that a comment would be nice so here I am with a comment and I’m not sure I could ever put into words how I feel so I am going to volunteer once a month with ROAM to make this world a better place. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to “Rachel Terry Barb Leslie and all the other and volunteers I didn’t meet, u r the light at the end of my tunnel God bless griffin and I will never forget what u did for us and asked for nothing in return but simple😊 comment.
David S. (Griffin)
There is no better feeling to have your dogs returned no worse than wear after fearing the worse. ROAM just happened along at the exact time the dogs needed protection from heavy traffic. You were the angels I prayed for…talk about the stars lining up! Thank you, thank you, thank you. There are no words to express my happiness to have my fur babies safely home and curled up in my lap sleeping off their adventure. We are closely inspecting our fencing to find the breech and have contracted a company to cross fence our back yard to keep our “Adventuress and Houdini” out of our natural area and away from bunny trails…their world will be downsized so hopefully, we’ll not go through this again. Barb and Terry you have hearts of gold and are doing such important work. May your lives be blessed for all you do…
Yvonne Y
My family cannot possibly thank all of you enough!!!! ROAM admin & volunteers were so truly amazing through this whole experience. Working so closely with Victoria Animal Control Services who were also absolutely wonderful! Passing out posters, Tigo ‘chits’, driving, walking, sharing on social media and with people in the neighborhood. Working with our family and friends who were stressed and scared and had no idea what to do. You all were so calm, reassuring, present, knowledgeable, and patient with us. We are truly overwhelmed by how our community came together for us, perfect strangers, on Christmas (!!), to find our lost puppy. Tigo made his way home because of all of your hard work over a solid 24hr period. With all of our hearts we thank you!!!!
Bonnie L
Words can’t even describe how grateful I am to have had the help from ROAM in finding our beloved family dog. Terry and Barb gave us the tools and emotional support that was much needed in the non stop search. They checked in with us constantly, had the patience to answer and re-answer our many questions and inspired us to make the right choices ( all the time respecting my decisions) which in the end led us to a happy and very relieving reunion! Thank you so much guys!! 🙂
Char B
This is a very sincere thank you to ROAM for the excellent and immediate response I received when I contacted Lesli to report that my cat Mugsy was missing. After my week of fruitless searching, Lesli, through her contacts, already had a picture of Mugsy on the ROAM web site and I was able to focus my search where he was last sighted. Getting him back that night was wonderful. Thanks again to ROAM and everyone who contributed to his return with their words of encouragement.
Gail G
Wow! What a team! THANK YOU SO MUCH to ALL who went out of their way to make this happen! It’s a great lesson on why community is SO important in this day and age. THIS experience is what makes ‘paying it forward’ happen! See how easy it is!! Everyone take note of this… The ingredients of compassion, common sense, perseverance, faith in your work, camaraderie, empathy, mutual support, came together here in a way rarely seen in public view. We can ALL learn a LOT from how these folks work together and how well they convey confidence, empathy, reassurance and… common sense to those that need their help! The selflessness is underappreciated and undervalued too much in our society. THIS is TRUE Leadership in action! ROAM doesn’t just talk about it – you ALL practice it – daily! I’m eternally grateful, I’m going to pay it forward by volunteering for any similar programs over here where we live. I hope this success story brings hope and faith to all the future pet parents and owners who experience a lost or missing pet and the fears, guilt and anxieties that come along with it. I can assure you – you are in the best hands possible!! PLEASE DONATE where you can!! If the principles of commitment and teamwork that ROAM has clearly mastered (yet still keeping everything uncomplicated) were to be used more throughout our communities… the outcomes would be something amazing, there’s a lot more to learn from this than meets the eye! Because of that… ROAM has got something MUCH bigger happening than what we actually see! There are PHD’s out there that study these sorts of phenomena!! I encourage all who read this (and the many other stories and posts on the ROAM sites) to DONATE and share these stories. YOU ARE BUILDING COMMUNITY BY GIVING TO THIS GROUP and the benefits are immediate! If you are someone who currently has a missing pet, have faith, it means you are confident in the universe (other people). Don’t underestimate the value of pets and their compassionate and dedicated owners.
Florian (Milos' owner)
Ricky has been FOUND!! Thank you so much to Barb, Terry, and everyone else who helped us last night and this morning! We can’t thank you enough! We’re so grateful that Ricky is home safe and sound. We will be ROAM volunteers from here on out. Thanks again!
Chris L (Ricky)
We are so thankful for ROAM stepping in to help us find Hazel! We were in Toronto when we discovered our 10 lb rescue had spooked at a dog park & escaped, running for her life. The ROAM team deployed at our panicked request and stayed out in the wind & rain until late in the evening as they co-ordinated a search with our family, friends & community. Fortunately, and with great thanks to ROAM’s knowledge of how to handle scared dogs, Hazel only had to spend one night out in the cold. She was found safe the next day! Thank you ROAM for volunteering your time and energy to find our much-loved family member.
Kirsten F