Decent: Helping rescue animals one fundraiser at a time the mission of Chappy and Friends group

When he rescued a dog from a puppy mill, little did Robert Bills know that it would be the start of a mission to support animal welfare projects across the country.

“I decided I just wanted to do something with animals,” he said. “I’ve done a lot of things but never anything that was quite enough. I read somewhere your mission in life is what you cry about and in my case, it was the mistreatment of animals.”

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Chappy, a 17-year-old Havapoo, has lent his support to a nonprofit named in his honor, Chappy and Friends. Bills describes the Naperville-based organization as an incubator for new animal projects. Their mission is to help those who want to help our furry, and not so furry, friends.

“It’s not always easy for those who aren’t 501c3s (tax deductible charities) to raise money, which is where we can step in,” he said. “The basic idea is we can provide them with a URL unique to their organization which they can go and share with their supporters. When they donate, their donations are then tax deductible.”

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Other help is also available, from showing groups how to fundraise with a goal tracker to featuring them on the “Chappy and Friends” website.

Bills describes himself as a renaissance man. Over the years he has taught finance at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University, owned an art gallery in the West Loop and produced an off-Broadway musical in New York. The idea for Chappy and Friends came after learning about a fiscal sponsor for the arts.

“They will sponsor theater companies and public art, anyone who wants to raise money but who is not a 501c3 themselves,” he said.

Chappy isn’t the first dog Bills has rescued. He also owns a shih tzu and two cats.

“One of our cats, Gio, lived through Hurricane Harvey,” he said. “We also have Gracie, a blind shih tzu who came from a rescue in L.A. We want to help the hard cases, as long as we can handle them.”

Before Bills rescued Chappy, the dog spent five and a half years breeding at a puppy mill in Tennessee.

“When we decided to get another dog we went to a shelter in Chicago,” said Bills. “I was always worried that the animals we already had should be safe so after we saw Chappy, we thought about it overnight.”

When he called the shelter the next day, he was told Chappy had been adopted by someone else. Bills was disappointed but when driving past later in the day he saw that he was, in fact, still there.

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“That dog is going to be ours,” he said. “It was too late to start the adoption process there and then but we did it the next day.”

Chappy and Friends was founded in 2017, their first project coming along in April 2018. So far, they’ve helped various animal welfare groups around the country raise $400,000.

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“The county shelter system in the U.S. doesn’t allow shelters to raise money themselves so they often have ‘friends of’ groups,” he explained.

Other projects have included helping a New York veterinarian who saw the need to provide affordable training for pet adopters who might not otherwise been able to keep their animals. In Sedona, Arizona, Race to the Rescue helps racehorses who are unwanted when past their prime, while in San Jose, California, Ranch Roben Rescues provides a sanctuary for farm animals. They also helped the now-shuttered Naperville pet store Dog Patch by helping them raise over $25,000 towards rescuing pets.

On July 24, Bills is opening up his home to host a fundraiser of his own for Chappy and Friends. Rocks Off, a Rolling Stones tribute band, will be performing in his half-acre yard, promising a fun-filled day for the whole family.

“One of our projects, a small animal rescue, are providing a petting zoo, plus there will be a Great Pyrenean therapy dog. Kids are free with paying adults,” he said.

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To find out more, go to www.chappyandfriends.org

Hilary Decent is a freelance journalist who moved to Naperville from England in 2007.

hilarydecent@gmail.com