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History
Learn a bit of our history, how ROLDA started, why we operate in Galati, what we have been able to change for animals in a country where public shelters continue to put Romania to shame under EU's indifferent eyes.
“Can’t be done! This is Romania” is not in Dana’s vocabulary.
Mission
Our mission is to ensure animals have a good life by advocating for them and by inspiring everyone to treat them with compassion and respect. Our strategy will build on these strong beliefs for years to come.
Although abusive and punishable by law, keeping dogs in chains is still a practice in many rural areas in Romania. It is a challenge to really change things.
Every month, more than 2,000 vulnerable animals depend on ROLDA for rescue, shelter, medical care, and a second chance at life. Your generosity helps provide the food, care, and protection they need to survive and find a better life. Can you continue help fund our vital work?
Your donation helps us rescue animals from cruelty and neglect, care for them and find them loving homes. During the war, we extend our support to animals from Ukraine.
Our vision is a World where all animals are treated with kindness and compassion. But we can’t do it alone. Choose to support a one-off cost or a project.
Home » Projects » #FriendsForever: tackling elderly poverty and prevent pet abandonment in Romania
#FriendsForever: a project to keep elderly people and their pets together
13 Donors
$2242 Raised
16.01%
$14000 Goal
ROLDA believes poverty should never break the bond between a person and their pet companion. Through our Friends Forever campaign and wider community programmes, we provide a lifeline to low-income and elderly pet owners, helping them keep their companions safe, healthy, and by their side.
Nearly 40% of people aged 65 and over in Romania are at risk of poverty or social exclusion, compared to an EU average of just 19%. Many elderly people survive on the equivalent of only €70 a month, often without reliable access to electricity or clean water. In this context, their pets offer priceless emotional support, but veterinary care, or even basic transport to clinics, is entirely out of reach. ROLDA’s support programmes are a vital lifeline, ensuring that seniors are not forced to abandon their beloved companions simply because they are poor.
Started in January 2023, Friends Forever campaign continues to support seniors who have a monthly income under 2,000 lei (approx 400 euro), by paying pet-related costs to ensure their needs are met. Presently, we are focusing primarily on paying the unexpected vet bills (emergency veterinary treatment and medicines), ensuring pets don’t suffer or die needlessly.
By supporting vulnerable people and their pets, ROLDA prevents abandonment, reduces the stray population, and strengthens the human–animal bond at the heart of compassionate communities.
Our work is already transforming lives
Over 1,000 vulnerable seniors have received help with food, veterinary care, and medicines.
Through #FriendsForever, seniors like Ms Iordan — living on €300 a month while caring for 11 cats — have received sterilisation, medical support, and ongoing supplies, keeping pets healthy and families together.
Shelter dogs visiting the local retirement homes have lifted loneliness, showing how animal companionship enriches human well-being.
Each intervention not only saves pets from being abandoned but also reduces the pressure on overcrowded shelters and helps curb Romania’s stray crisis at its roots.
The impact of your gift
$50 — could provide 4 food parcels
$150 — would cover vet care and medicines for 5 animals from low-income families.
$250 — pays an average veterinary bill for diagnosis (often includes blood analyses, XRay, specialist consultation) to determine the best treatment moving forward.
Transparency corner
Please check the annual activity reports
March - 2025
Mrs. Gabriela reached out to us for help with food for the animals in her care. She is a pensioner and is struggling greatly with the maintenance costs for all the animals she has managed to rescue.
Mrs. Stefania previously contacted us for help in building a small shelter for her cats, as she was at risk of having nowhere to house them during the winter. She was unable to manage all the maintenance costs, and eight of the cats needed to be sterilized. ROLDA helped cover the sterilization expenses.
Mrs. Gabi is a devoted animal lover. On her street, she found a cat with an injured leg. Unfortunately, her neighbors are not fond of animals and had locked the cat inside a shed. She managed to free the cat, and with the help of a young man, she was able to catch her and take her to a clinic for evaluation. ROLDA covered the costs for the tests, and we are now waiting for the results to determine the necessary treatment.
Total amount spent:
3.031 lei (aprox. 606 euro)
February - 2025
Mrs. Anisoara reached out to us for her little dog, Lolica, who developed a fairly large lump. She couldn’t afford to take her to the vet due to the high costs. ROLDA covered the expenses so Lolica could see a vet and get an X-ray to ensure the lump wasn’t a tumor. She received injectable treatment, and unfortunately, two tumors were discovered on her liver. She is now receiving appropriate treatment, and we hope to share good news soon.
Ovidiu is a veterinarian who is very dedicated to his profession. He regularly visits underprivileged villages, going door to door to help elderly people who cannot travel to a clinic, providing spay/neuter services for their pets. ROLDA helps cover these costs, and with his help, we managed to complete six sterilizations for both cats and dogs, along with the necessary vaccinations.
Mrs. Doina reached out to us for her tomcat, Misu, who was sadly found in very poor condition and injured. Tests revealed liver issues, and he is now receiving ongoing treatment. He also had three fractures in his pelvis and torn skin on his jaw. Fortunately, he has started feeling better and can now eat on his own. ROLDA helped cover the costs for his treatment.
Mrs. Violeta cares for many dogs that she and her mother rescued from the streets. Sadly, her mother has passed away, and she is now left to care for all the animals on her own. Recently, she took in two dogs who are unfortunately paralyzed and unable to walk. She reached out to ROLDA for help with food to meet the needs of the dogs in her care.
Mrs. Geta looks after several cats. Pusy is her tomcat who needed an implant as a substitute for castration because he has serious heart problems and cannot undergo surgery. She couldn’t afford the procedure, so she turned to ROLDA, and we helped cover the costs.
Total amount spent:
4.294 lei (aprox. 860 euro)
January – 2025
Activity report 2024
Many seniors in Romania live on the edge of collapse, depressed, in poverty, often being forced to choose between buying medicines or paying utility bills. For most people, pet ownership is a source of happiness, purpose, and daily friendship. Older pet owners often say life was quieter and emptier before their pet came along—even if caring for their animal meant adapting to a few new routines. ROLDA’s FriendsForever campaign continues to offer support to seniors with income under 2.000 lei (aprox 400 euro), for paying pet-related costs, to keep their pets safe.
Many seniors in Romania live on the edge of collapse, depressed, in poverty,often being forced to choose between buying medicines or paying utility bills.Having a pet, for many, is the best thing that has happened to them. Older pet owners often shared how empty and desolate their lives felt withouttheir furry companions, even though they acknowledged the occasionalchallenges of owning an active pet.
ROLDA sponsor the Animal-Assisted Rehabilitation and Nature Therapy Program
Donate
0 Donors
$0 Raised
0%
$0 Goal
The program offers free, nature-based therapy and social inclusion for children with neurodevelopmental needs.
emergency, animal related
Emergency: Donate to Middle east crisis appeal
Donate
6 Donors
$303 Raised
0.67%
$45.000 Goal
When war forces families to flee their homes, pets are often the ones left to fend for themselves. Strays wander abandoned, dangerous streets with no one left to feed them. Hungry, frightened, and alone.
emergency, animal related
Help us save dogs from the Puppy Mills
Donate
2 Donors
$20 Raised
0.2%
$10.000 Goal
While ROLDA continue to lobby for government and law enforcement in Romania & Worldwide, we are committed to do more to eliminate puppy mills structures where animals are abused and exploited.
Capital cost
Shelter 1: Transform the small shelter
Donate
2 Donors
$250 Raised
5%
$5.000 Goal
Our first built (small) shelter is now twenty years old and despite being nominated multiple times for the best shelter in Romania, its age is beginning to show and is in need of some TLC. ROLDA holds to the highest standards of comfort and care and control disease management is a top priority for us, in both our shelteras but we need help maintaining those standards and providing the best possible facilities for our dogs.
Social campaign
Free sterilisation for pets from low-income families
Donate
2 Donors
$146 Raised
0.11%
$130.000 Goal
Whilst Romanian law currently prohibits the sterilisation of stray dogs (and their returning to the wild), ROLDA are operating sterilisation campaigns in poor communities, targeting the pets of low- income families who could not afford private veterinary care. These campaigns tackle abandonment– one of the primary contributing factors to the national homeless dog crisis – in two key ways.
non-US support +44 (0)161 531 8801
