Today we’d like to introduce you to Carla ROSHITSH.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
The founding members of Paws for Life NC started our organization as a grassroots effort to help solve the problem of homeless dogs and cats in Franklin County, NC. Over the years, our footprint has grown to include parts of Southern Granville and Northern Wake Counties, NC, as well as support to outlying rural shelters like Vance, Rowan, Nash, Montgomery and Rocky Mount.
Paws for Life NC was formed in 2002 under the registered name of the Franklin County Humane Society. In 2022, we formally changed our name to Paws for Life NC to account for the growth of our organization in terms services and footprint.
We are proudly a 100% all-volunteer cat and dog rescue operation. Our core program is our foster-based adoption program. Over time, we grew our Spay and Neuter is Fundamental program to combat pet overpopulation, and over the years, we added cat & dog transports and educational outreach to our life-saving toolkit.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Rescue is never a smooth road—and Paws for Life NC has certainly had its share of bumps, detours, and a few potholes along the way.
When the organization started in 2002, it was a grassroots effort built by people who simply saw a problem and wanted to help. Over the years, the need has grown tremendously, and we’ve had to grow and evolve right along with it. What started as a local effort in Franklin County eventually expanded into Northern Wake, Southern Granville, and surrounding communities. We’ve added programs, expanded our lifesaving work, and taken on more animals, but we’ve always had to do it as a 100% volunteer-run organization.
One of our biggest ongoing challenges is capacity. There are always more animals who need help than we have foster homes available. We regularly have to make incredibly difficult decisions about which animals we can take because, at the end of the day, we can only save as many animals as we have safe places for them to go. That’s one of the hardest realities of being a foster-based rescue. We want to say yes to everyone, but we can’t always do that.
Then there is the financial side. Veterinary care has become incredibly expensive, particularly when you’re dealing with animals who arrive injured, sick, heartworm positive, or in need of major surgery. We don’t receive government funding, so we depend on donations, fundraising, grants, and the generosity of our community to pay for that care. And because we’re all volunteers, we’re constantly balancing the desire to save more lives with the financial responsibility of making sure the organization remains sustainable.
We’ve also had to navigate the emotional challenges that come with rescue. There are heartbreaking cases where, despite everything we do, we can’t save an animal. There are animals who need months of rehabilitation or training before they’re ready for adoption. There are fosters who have to say goodbye to animals they’ve grown deeply attached to. And there are times when we have to turn away an animal simply because we don’t have the capacity to help. Those are the moments that stay with you.
At the same time, we’ve had to continually adapt as the animal welfare landscape has changed. We’ve learned that rescue isn’t just about pulling dogs and cats from shelters. It’s also about preventing animals from becoming homeless in the first place. That’s why we’ve expanded into spay/neuter assistance, and developed inter-agency partnerships, business partnerships, and community education.
The biggest lesson we’ve learned is that we can’t do this alone. The success of Paws for Life NC has always depended on people coming together—fosters opening their homes, volunteers giving their time, veterinarians providing care, donors helping pay the bills, businesses sponsoring events, and adopters opening their hearts.
So, no, it hasn’t been a smooth road. There have been hard decisions, financial challenges, heartbreaking losses, growing pains, and plenty of moments when we’ve wondered how we’re going to make it all work.
But there have also been thousands of happy endings.
And every time we see an animal who came to us scared, sick, injured, or unwanted curled up on a family’s couch, we remember why we keep going.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a 22-year Air Force veteran. My military retirement opened the door for my involvement in animal rescue and ultimately lead to my current, purely volunteer, role as President of Paws for Life NC. As President, my work is really a combination of leadership, advocacy, problem-solving, and a whole lot of rolling up my sleeves and doing whatever needs to be done. Along with my Board of Directors, I help lead a 100% volunteer-run, foster-based dog and cat rescue, but my role goes beyond the day-to-day operations of an animal rescue. I spend a lot of time thinking about how we can grow responsibly, strengthen our organization, build partnerships, raise the resources we need to save lives, and ultimately make a bigger impact on the animal welfare crisis in our community.
My professional background has had a tremendous influence on how I approach this work. My military career gave me a strong foundation in leadership, management, accountability, and working as part of a team toward a common mission. But perhaps the most important lesson the military instilled in me was the responsibility to take care of your community and to step up when there is a need. You don’t wait for someone else to solve the problem when you have the ability to help. You see what’s needed, you step forward, and you do your part.
That philosophy really shaped my journey with Paws for Life NC. I originally became involved as a foster because I wanted to help one animal at a time. But as I became more involved, I realized that I wanted to do more. I wanted to be someone who could make a bigger difference—not just for individual animals, but for the organization and the community we serve. That journey took me from being a foster, to becoming the Dog Program Lead, and eventually to serving as President.
Each of those roles taught me something different. Fostering taught me the importance of seeing every animal as an individual and understanding what they need to succeed. Leading the dog program taught me how important it is to build systems, support volunteers, solve problems, and make difficult decisions. And as President, I have the opportunity to look at the bigger picture and think about how we can build a stronger, more sustainable organization that will continue making a difference for years to come.
I think one of the things I am known for is being forward-thinking and collaborative. Animal welfare is complicated, and there are no easy answers. There are more animals who need help than there are resources to help them, and we have to constantly balance the desire to save more lives with our responsibility to do right by every animal who comes into our care. I believe strongly in doing the work thoughtfully and intentionally. For us, it’s not just about how many animals we can take in. It’s about the quality of the care we provide, the support we give them, and finding the right home where they can truly thrive.
What I am most proud of is the growth of Paws for Life NC without losing the heart of who we are. We have evolved from a small grassroots operation into a tried-and-true rescue with a much broader reach and a much greater capacity to help animals. But we are still driven by the same fundamental belief that every animal matters. I am incredibly proud that we have built an organization where people come together to make a difference—fosters open their homes, volunteers give their time, donors make lifesaving medical care possible, veterinarians care for animals in need, and adopters give them the forever homes they deserve.
I am also proud of the culture we are building. I want Paws for Life NC to be known not only for saving animals, but for doing rescue the right way. That means being thoughtful about the animals we take in, being responsible stewards of the resources entrusted to us, supporting our foster families, and making adoption matches that are truly in the best interest of both the animal and the family. We place a premium on the quality of our rescue work over simply increasing the quantity of animals we save.
I believe in both compassion and accountability. My military background taught me that strong leadership is about taking care of your people while remaining focused on the mission. I bring that same philosophy to rescue. You need the heart to save animals, but you also need the discipline to build an organization that can continue saving them for years to come.
I care deeply about every individual animal, but I also think about the bigger picture: How do we create sustainable programs? How do we bring more people into the mission? How do we support our volunteers and foster families? How do we work with other organizations instead of working in silos? And how do we prevent animals from entering shelters in the first place?
I believe collaboration is one of the most powerful tools we have. No rescue, shelter, or organization can solve the animal welfare crisis alone. We have to be willing to share ideas, build partnerships, and recognize that when we work together, we can accomplish so much more than any one organization could do on its own.
At the end of the day, though, the reason I do this work is pretty simple. I believe every animal deserves a chance. I believe that the circumstances an animal is born into shouldn’t determine how its story ends. And I believe that if we have the ability to make a difference, we have a responsibility to step up and do it.
My journey with Paws for Life NC started with one foster dog and a desire to help. I never set out with the goal of becoming President. I simply kept seeing opportunities where I could contribute and make a difference, and I kept stepping up. That journey—from foster, to Dog Program Lead, to President—has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.
I am extremely proud of Paws for Life NC, but I am even more excited about what we can become next. There is still so much work to do, and I see my role as helping build an organization that is strong enough, sustainable enough, and collaborative enough to meet that challenge.
For me, the most rewarding part is truly seeing the difference our work makes in the lives of animals in need. Seeing animals blossom from sick and downtrodden into happy, healthy companions and knowing that the work we do doesn’t just change an animal’s life. It changes the lives of the people who adopt them, the families who foster them, and the entire community that comes together to help them.
That’s what keeps me going. It’s the same principle that guided me throughout my military career: **when there is a need, you step up; you take care of your community; and you do everything you can to leave things better than you found them.**
That’s what I hope people see when they think about me, and when they think about Paws for Life NC.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
I think the best advice I can give is to be genuinely curious about people and to build relationships before you need something from someone. I’ve found that the best mentors and professional relationships often develop naturally when you show up, get involved, and take the time to learn from people who are doing something you admire.
My own journey has reinforced that for me. I didn’t start with a master plan to become President of Paws for Life NC. I started as a foster because I wanted to help. As I became more involved, I looked for ways I could contribute more, took on new responsibilities, and learned from the people around me. That eventually led me to become the Dog Program Lead and, ultimately, President. Along the way, I’ve had people who encouraged me, challenged my thinking, shared their expertise, and helped me see possibilities I might not have seen on my own.
To me, networking is really about relationships. It’s about being willing to introduce yourself, ask questions, listen, and find ways to be helpful. Some of the most valuable connections I’ve made have come from simply saying yes to an opportunity, joining a conversation, or reaching out to someone whose work I respected.
My advice is to put yourself in environments where the people you want to learn from are already doing the work. Volunteer. Join a professional or community organization. Attend events. Participate in conversations. Don’t be afraid to introduce yourself. And, perhaps most importantly, don’t limit your search for a mentor to someone who has your exact job or career path. Sometimes the most valuable mentors are people who have strengths that complement your own.
I also believe mentorship can happen at every level. I’ve learned from people with decades more experience than I have, but I’ve also learned a tremendous amount from people who were newer to the field and brought a completely different perspective. Be open to both.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.pawsforlifenc.org
- Instagram: @pawsforlife_nc
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PawsForLifeNC/
