Update on our work towards registration

We have been making good strides towards the new requirement to become a registered shelter.

We are waiting for the approval of our vehicle, so should hopefully have more information on how that is going next week. All the documentation was sent off to the Sofia office, and we have to wait for the decision from them. We are unsure of the time frame as the local official has never registered vehicles for animal movement in Smolian before, so it may be 1-2 weeks. We have also ordered some more magnetic car signs with RSDR’s name and logo on as we need 3 for each vehicle, one either side and one on the bonnet – as well as signs in Bulgarian saying we are transporting animals.

There was a meeting with officials this week, which reviewed the course certificates the staff did in Sofia.  They also discussed the renovation plans for the shelter in more detail. Once the vehicle is approved there will be another inspection of the shelter to see if they will give the shelter registration whilst renovations can be done in a certain time frame.

We also met with a new builder this week, who came to visit us with a project manager to measure up. He will be working out costs and giving us a breakdown, and we should have the quotation in the next 10 days. We are currently checking with municipality if planning permission is needed for some of the works to be done. We also have another builder coming to have a look and give a quotation.

Other news, we are applying to the municipality for two large bins which would be emptied each week at the shelter. It will be about 1000 Bulgarian levs a year, but long term would save money on vehicle repairs as it is tough on vehicles going to the rough terrain of the landfill.

We will do another update at the end of next week. Please share information on our fundraiser so we can raise as much as possible for the renovations. The link to donate, and read more updates, is https://www.youcaring.com/saveourshelter