Our Mission: 17 Years of Frontline Rescue
Food, shelter & rescue for animals in cold climates internationally. Harmony Fund is a U.S.-based international animal welfare organization dedicated to helping animals in the world’s most difficult environments and overlooked circumstances. For more than 17 years, we have supported courageous frontline, often grassroots rescuers working where resources are scarce and animals have few, if any, other sources of aid.
The Deadly Threat of Winter in Crisis Zones
When winter arrives in most of the areas where we work, the animals most at risk are often the ones living far beyond the reach of traditional animal welfare systems. Across Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Ukraine and other regions where Harmony Fund works, rescuers face freezing temperatures, deep snow, impassable roads, war, power outages and crushing poverty. For homeless animals, already—struggling shelters and the frontline rescuers trying to protect them, winter can become a matter of survival. Food becomes harder to find, water can freeze or disappear, roads can become inaccessible and even the most basic necessities, including hay, firewood, heating and dry shelter, can suddenly be out of reach.
Our work through Harmony Fund, reaches homeless and abandoned animals, struggling sanctuaries and shelters, and animals affected by war, disaster and extreme poverty. Harmony Fund is proud to maintain the highest levels of transparency and accountability, with top ratings and recognition from leading nonprofit watchdog organizations. We carefully identify urgent needs, work directly with trusted rescue partners on the ground, and ensure that donor support is directed toward practical, life-saving solutions for animals who might otherwise be forgotten.
The 6-Pronged Winter Survival Program
This winter, Harmony Fund is launching its Winter Survival Program, a 6 pronged international initiative designed to help animals and rescuers prepare for frigid weather before the cold becomes an emergency. The program will fund food for homeless animals and struggling shelters, hay for rescued horses and farm animals, emergency winter feeding, heating, firewood, water systems, weather protection, and other critical improvements that can mean the difference between surviving the winter and facing a devastating crisis.
#1 Hundreds of Snowbound Animals
Every Life Counts Shelter in Romania
Every winter, while more than 250 rescued animals depend on Every Life Counts, a shelter in Romania. And every winter, Ioana and Bogdan Marascu travel beyond its gates to feed the animals with nowhere else to turn. They drive into forgotten places where homeless dogs wait, cold, hungry and unseen. “Every weekend, we drive miles into the woods, the fields, the forgotten places, to feed the ones nobody sees,” says Ioana Marascu, co-founder of the rescue. “Stray dogs, starving, cold, all waiting for a miracle.”
This brave couple also bring desperately needed food to the local pound, where dogs are surviving on cold, wet concrete, often in poorly structured outdoor kennels, with no comfort or relief. They are fed poorly and often lack the nourishment they need, especially during the most bitter winter months. Whenever possible, the rescuers prepare hot, nourishing canine stew, providing extra calories, warmth and comfort to dogs who have little else.
From mid-November through mid-March, Harmony Fund’s Winter Survival Program would establish a dedicated Winter-Feeding Fund of $600 per week, covering food and fuel for homeless dogs and two weekly visits to the local pound with supplemental hot meals. This is our mission.
Inside the shelter, more than 250 rescued animals also face the challenges of a Romanian winter. Approximately 230 dogs live in 19 spacious outdoor enclosures, each with protected sleeping areas and straw-filled dog houses that provide insulation and shelter from the elements. Keeping so many animals warm, dry and comfortable through freezing temperatures, snow and bitter winds requires constant care and preparation. Sick and recovering animals, elderly animals and young animals – puppies and kittens, depend on protected, heated indoor spaces. Harmony Fund also seeks support for critical improvements, including enclosing and heating the cat house.
#2 Rescued Warzone Horses Need Hay for Winter
Animals 911 Shelter Ukraine
They were abandoned on the front lines of war. When their owners fled with the Russian forces after the de-occupation, dozens of horses were left behind in an area that had been hit by more than 35 shellings. Some were killed. Others suffered shrapnel injuries to their legs and heads. With civilians evacuated and logistics paralyzed, only one stable worker remained to care for the surviving horses, despite constant danger. Eventually, after months of delays because the horses had been seized as evidence in a criminal case, Animals 911 Shelter was able to help bring them to safety through a remarkable joint evacuation involving the International Red Cross and Ukraine’s White Angels police unit, which provided security and anti-drone protection. Now, 37 of these horses are alive and safe at Animals 911 Shelter. But Robert Sargsyan, who runs the rescue, says the situation has once again become critical.
"I have several months left before the frosts," Robert told Harmony Fund. "I must have time to finish building and prepare hay. I'm somehow managing with my dogs, but with the horses, it's very difficult and expensive, and I haven't yet found a mechanism that will help me with feeding. I ask you to perceive the situation as critical."
Earlier this spring, Harmony Fund helped Animals 911 move the horses to a pasture area where they could finally graze and enjoy the grass and space to move around after everything they had survived. But that lifeline is temporary. As autumn and winter approach and grass disappears, the horses will once again depend entirely on Robert and his team for every bale of hay they need. With 37 horses in their care, Animals 911 rescue is now racing to secure 7500 bales of hay before the first frost arrives.
#3 International Food Bank
Helping Remote, Rural & Homeless Animals Have Food This Winter
At a beautiful vacation lake in Bosnia, families come each summer to swim, relax and enjoy the countryside. But when the season ends and the tourists go home, some leave something behind, the pets they no longer want. Local rescuers call the area the Lake of Tears because abandoned dogs are left there to fend for themselves, often in the woods and far from any source of food or help. When rescuers go out with food, they are feeding animals who may have once belonged to a family and who now wait, hungry and frightened, for someone to return. The Lake of Tears is just one heartbreaking example of the animals reached by Harmony Fund’s International Food Bank.
Across Bosnia, the crisis takes many forms. Sanja Laslo cares for a yard full of rescued animals, including dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, hamsters and animals with disabilities or chronic conditions, while also feeding an average of 70 dogs on the streets. She says the streets are filled with abandoned animals, many never sterilized, while winter brings even greater danger for those who are malnourished or have weakened immune systems. “I can’t feed them all,” Sanja says. “Every day is a struggle for survival.” To provide the animals with even two minimally nutritious meals a day, she needs more than $600 each month for food alone, money she does not have.
This winter, Harmony Fund aims to provide food assistance to frontline rescuers and street feeding teams in cold climate. Rescuers travel to forests, abandoned buildings, cemeteries, industrial areas, rural roadsides and other forgotten places where homeless animals gather. They bring food to animals who may otherwise go days without eating, while also supporting struggling shelters whose own food supplies are dangerously low.
For many rescuers, winter creates an impossible choice, use their last food to feed the animals already in their care, or continue going out to feed the homeless animals waiting outside.
Through the International Food Bank, Harmony Fund ensures they do not have to make that choice at all.
#4 Dogs, Horses and Cats Need Help
Fundatia Sky Sanctuary in Romania
When winter comes to this rural Romanian sanctuary, the dirt road that leads up to the shelter becomes impassable under deep snow, sometimes even for off-road vehicles. Pet food, hay and other essentials must be brought in before the worst weather arrives.
But this year, the crisis is greater than ever. After an extraordinarily difficult year, rising fuel and energy costs and months of financial strain have left Mariana and her small team struggling just to keep the animals fed. They have been unable to afford support workers and are now trying to care for hundreds of animals with only two people carrying the daily burden. This can’t continue effectively.
“Every time winter is near, one of the biggest issues we have is lack of access for cars on the road to the shelter,” Mariana explains. Normally, the shelter uses the spring and summer to repair damage caused by the previous winter, but this year there was not enough money. Damaged roofs and kennels remain unrepaired because the rescue had to focus its limited resources on food. At the same time, the team must provide hay and veterinary care and somehow continue the enormous daily work of caring for hundreds of animals.
We can give this exhausted team a chance to catch its breath during the hardest time of year. Our goal is to provide 6 weeks of food and hay relief, from December 1 through January 15, one of the most difficult periods of winter. We will also establish a veterinary care fund and fund two additional animal care workers for mid-November through mid-March. While the shelter continues raising funds for its remaining needs, Harmony Fund’s support will provide supplies, more hands to share the work and critical breathing room to complete the most vital jobs.
#5 Wet and Cold Animals Need Protection
Bouchra’s Shelter in Morocco
Bouchra lives with dozens of abandoned dogs and cats in a crumbling shelter far from the city, where winter brings heavy rains, cold nights, and frequent electric outages. Last winter was a disaster.
Torrential rain poured through the deteriorating roof and flooded the small living space Bouchra shares with many of her cats, leaving approximately 4 inches of water throughout.
The dogs have no proper covered area, and the aging metal sheets over Bouchra’s living space are full of holes and require constant repair. When winter comes, there is nowhere for the rain to go, and nowhere for Bouchra or the animals to escape it.
Harmony Fund donors have already helped transform safety at the shelter by funding a desperately needed perimeter wall. Before it was built, Bouchra lived with the constant fear of intruders and dangerous animals entering the property. “Snakes come in. Rats come in. And even men come in,” she told us.
“This wall is not just a thing; it is our safety and survival.”
Now that the animals are more secure, Bouchra is planning for new kennels. But with winter approaching, the next urgent challenge is protecting the shelter from the elements. The dogs need somewhere dry to escape the rain, and Bouchra needs a safe, warm place to live alongside the cats she has devoted her life to saving in a most challenged environment.
Harmony Fund’s Winter Survival Project will help Bouchra prepare for the months ahead with essential supplies and critical protection from rain and cold. Because electricity is frequently cut off. Harmony Fund hopes to provide a wood stove and firewood, giving Bouchra warmth and a way to cook when the power fails. The project will fund metal sheeting and materials for a simple covered, lean-to-style shelter for the dogs, along with emergency repairs to the leaking roof over Bouchra and the cats. For a woman who sleeps on a mattress on the floor, cooks over an open fire, and has sacrificed everything to care for animals nobody else wants, winter protection is not a luxury, it’s a matter of survival.
#6 Ukrainian Heroine Needs Warmth & Running Water
Yulia’s Shelter in Ukraine
In the middle of a war zone in Ukraine, Yulia Barchenko did something extraordinary. As Russian forces moved closer to her hometown of Dobropillia in the Donetsk region, she and her sister made the painful decision to flee. But Yulia could not bear to leave behind the animals she had been feeding on the streets, so she gathered them, every dog, every cat, every soul she could reach.
In a desperate escape, Yulia and her sister loaded 50 dogs and 57 cats onto 3 buses and fled in terror. The drivers screamed at them to hurry as they loaded the frightened animals, knowing they had to get away before the fighting moved closer. There was no time to plan. By the time they escaped, 107 animals, many once homeless and living on the streets, were fleeing the war alongside the two women who refused to abandon them.
Now they are in a remote area far from the frontline. It is safer, but conditions remain incredibly difficult. Yulia and her sister are caring for 107 animals with little more than scraps, wire, wood and whatever materials they can afford and find. Last winter, the well stopped providing water after only two months, forcing Yulia to haul water from a neighbor in a barrel on a wheelbarrow. Electricity was frequently cut off, leaving the kittens dangerously cold. With no firewood, she gathered wood from the forest and carried it home herself so that at least one room could have some warmth. “The kittens were very cold,” Yulia told us.
“I collected firewood in the forest and carried it back so that at least one room could have some warm air.”
With another winter approaching, Yulia is racing to prevent the same crisis from happening again. Her old stove is deteriorating; there is no heat in the second room and the unreliable well cannot provide enough water for more than 100 animals. The most practical solution is a small wood burning stove, 4 tons of wood briquettes and a properly drilled well. The new well will reach 60 meters deep, with the quoted cost covering drilling, rings, pipes and electrical connection.
Join Our Mission!
The cold is closing in. Your support is the difference between surviving the winter and facing a devastating crisis. Start your ongoing support and give the gift of warmth today!