Our transport bus needs a new engine!

Hi y’all, my name is Chantel and I am the founder of Live Free Animal Rescue. A local southern NH dog rescue that is boots on the ground to save as many dogs as possible. Just last year (2022), we were able to save over 800 dogs with the help of our transport bus. This rescue means the absolute world to me. In rescuing dogs I found my purpose, my identity and unconditional love for our four legged friends.

Unfortunately, over this past weekend, our bus broke down in Ohio. We had 70 dogs loaded on our transport making the journey to their furever homes and 3 amazing volunteers. Our volunteers made sure the dogs stayed warm while it was snowing out, fed & watered them, cleaned them and loved on them a little extra during this extremely difficult time.

Once a mechanic came out to us, we soon realized the bus would not be able to be repaired in a timely manner so we needed a plan B. Of course, we all were extremely stressed trying to figure out how we were going to move 70 dogs over 10 hours with no vehicle. We had a lot of offers to help from other rescues and other transport drivers, but unfortunately, none would have been big enough to carry all of our dogs and they were hours and hours away. We decided to get the dogs back as quickly as possible and that meant paying for a long-distance tow. That tow has cost us $4,000 dollars.

The weekend is now over and our dogs are with their furever families, but our bus is still very much out of commission. Our bus, named “Queenie,” after a dog we saved in New Mexico while purchasing this bus a year ago, needs a new engine.

A new engine is going to cost us $25,000 dollars. That is not even including the labor for this mechanical job. The labor we were just quoted at $10,000 dollars. Also because the engine is going, out afterburn system is now not working right and causing codes to come up. We drive a very large Freightliner converted into a bus. It has a 6.7 cummins motor. For the safety of our dogs, we do not want to get another used motor. We want to make sure we have a warranty on this engine as we have so many lives at stake if something else were to go wrong.

In total, we expect this job to be $30,000 or more, between the engine, labor and tows. This is an extremely large undertaking for a new rescue that has only been around for a couple of years.

This financial burden is a huge expense. Something we can not take on alone. We need the help of our supporters. Our bus will not be able to run until it is repaired, meaning we can not transport dogs back to New England.

So many dogs will not get the opportunity to find furever homes or be saved from a life that is mistreating, neglecting or abandoning them. We need your help now so we can get back on the road and bring our babies home!

This rescue runs solely on donations and without you all, we will not be able to save any more animals.

Any amount helps. Anywhere from $5-$5,000 we will be eternally grateful. Please remember a lot of companies will match your donation if you show them proof or just donate out of the kindness of their hearts, we do have a 501c3 so your donation is tax-deductible! We can send a receipt upon request! We all do this because of our love for dogs, we know if you support us your love for dogs is strong too. Please consider donating to a rescue that always shows up and saves as many as we can. We need you now more than ever.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Please share in hopes we can reach our goal!