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When we formed L.E.A.S.H. in June of 2012 we never imagined that 6 months later we would have the highest following in the Central Savannah River Area in only a 6 month time period. We never imagined that we would have placed over 60 near death rescues in good forever homes.
We never imagined the hard lessons we would learn and the number of harsh realities we would face in such a short period of time. Mistakes were made, lives were changed, friends were lost and a true team was formed.
We went from just the two of us, my wife and I, to a small dedicated “Squad”.
We have now reached a point in the road that we need to increase our efforts and up the ante. We need to take this rescue to the next level.
It’s time for Phase II, it’s time to take the fight back to the streets!
Immediate goals:
1) We are a registered Rescue in the State of South Carolina and have filed our paperwork to expand into the state of Georgia as a foreign entity. This simply means that we will still be L.E.A.S.H. Squad INC no matter what state we are operating in.
2) Hiring of an attorney and an accountant to finalize our filing as a 501c3. We have been asked on a number of occasions if we were a registered 501 and we, as you know, are not. This takes a substantial amount of funds that we have not been able to raise as of yet. Now we need to become proactive and aggressive with raising the funds. We have grown as much as we are able without our 501c3. The benefits are obvious. Tax exempt, donors can write off their donations, and we will be able to apply for much needed grants.
3) Our goals since we shifted from Search and rescue to rescue and rehabilitate have been pretty consistent. We MUST raise the funds to purchase at minimum 2 acres of land. This land will be utilized in a few different ways depending on the acreage. We need room for the construction of a shelter for us to house multiple rescues , a public dog park on site, a training facility, large runs for our rescue’s to play in, a bully breed specific sanctuary where we can socialize, train and rehabilitate, abused and ex fighting dogs.
4) Once we have this land we intend on starting a training program that will allow us to take the abused, neglected, abandoned babies off the streets and train them as service dogs for our veterans returning from over see’s combat tours. 19 veterans commit suicide each day. 19 men and woman that served in the US military take their own lives due to combat related stress, Post traumatic Stress disorder, depression, and anxiety. Would it not be amazing to take dogs that were discarded, their lives stripped from them through no fault of their own and given them a purpose?
5) We want to expand our operations into the enforcement area of animal abuse cases. As citizens, as rescuers, we cannot just sit back and take in those that have been beaten and abused. We cannot continue to take a defensive posture in this war against animal abuse. It is time that we fight back, we bite back the hand that would cause harm. By having the land and the resources we can assist in investigating and prosecuting those that operate illegal fight rings. Just in our area alone we have mapped out no less than 3 confirmed fight rings. Why have local organizations done something about it? They have stated privately that they are aware of some of these fight rings but that if they raided them than every dog that was seized would have to be PTS due to the lack of resources and space. Is that acceptable? I cannot say, what I can say is that by acquiring our land and having the facilities to house these babies we have been unofficially informed that we could assist not only in the raids but that the dogs seized would be surrendered to us.
The goals listed above are all primary goals, each with sub goals that will support the primary mission.
How extreme are we at L.E.A.S.H.? We are and will be only as extreme as you allow us to be.
So before I launch this Kick starter campaign, before we go all in, we need to know how you feel about this. We want to know if you are all in with us.
It will be said that we have an unrealistic dream. It will be said that we are trying the impossible, it will be said that our goals will never see fruit.
My response will be simple. When you are fighting for a cause greater than yourself, when you are standing up and being the voice of the voiceless without compromise, when you take a group of fanatical, fierce, fighting animal advocates and you put them all on the same track, there is absolutely NOTHING that is impossible.
When we succeed, when we accomplish our goals and we will, will you be someone that will look back and tell your kids, your grandkids that you were part of one of the greatest movements in animal rescue? Will you look back and say “I was a part of that, I helped make that happen!”
Lars Swearingen III
Co-Founder
Director of Operations
L.E.A.S.H.
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