On March 15, 2020 Peace Corps Director Jody Olsen announced the suspension of Peace Corps activities abroad and the subsequent evacuation of all currently serving Peace Corps Volunteers. 

As Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) who have brought pets home from service, we know firsthand how challenging it is under normal circumstances. At no time in Peace Corps history have so many volunteers returned to the US at one time.

Due to the short turnaround time, many Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) with pets are left with a heartbreaking decision: leave their beloved pets in their host community (where cultural norms around keeping pets may vary greatly from our US custom) or spend lots of money to take pets to a large/capital city, get vet clearance,  and ship the pets via cargo into the US. At a time when everything's happening so fast, many PCVs want to keep their pets and get them into the US. However, the urgency to get PCVs home to the US is pressing, so many PCVs are leaving pets with vets or boarding them. 

We want to be able to support these PCVs during this incredibly stressful time and use money raised from this to help volunteers with expenses such as:
- prolonged boarding fees (some airlines are limiting flying pets as cargo at this time)
- veterinarian fees (pets coming into the US must have certain vaccines and require certain check-ups. Some vets must prepare export paperwork depending on the country)
- buying kennels that meet airline requirements for shipping live animals
- paying the shipping fees to send live animals as cargo.

We're hopeful that we can reach the goal at this, if not surpass it! We are a few RPCVs who each went through a lot and spent a lot to get our pets home to the US. For example, Emily W. (RPCV Honduras) shipped her dog and cat cargo (they are pictured in the campaign photo above and are now supremely spoiled at home in the US). Cargo plus vet visits and kennels costs about $2000. Chelsea (RPCV Honduras and Malawi) flew with her dog as part of her checked "luggage" and paid about $500. As you can see the expenses will vary greatly and we want to support as many PCVs as possible! We're hoping to raise funds quickly so we can help PCVs who are leavning countries from around the world over the next few days.

ALL donations will be given to PCVs who need support for their pets. If there is a surplus of any funds it will all be donated to the National Peace Corps Association.  We will be transparent with all our donations and share stories or the PCVs and pets we help.

If you have any questions, please contact us at [email redacted]. 

Thank you for your kindness and generosity as we try to help these PCVs during this challenging time!