Years of dreaming about a new facility are about to come to an end for Whidbey Animals’ Improvement Foundation.
Ground was broken last year, construction is underway and the non-profit agency just announced its award of a $25,000 grant to help pay the bills. They still hope to raise another $500,000, but if all goes well WAIF will move into its new digs in late summer.
And this new building will be a real shelter, not like the current facility which was a temporary space that became permanent, WAIF Development Director Claire Creighton said. They want a facility to call their own and it’s finally about to happen.
“This is a transformational moment for WAIF,” Creighton said
When completed, the new building will increase capacity. WAIF’s current shelter can hold 38 cats. The new facility, for which ground was broken in July 2014, will hold up to 150.
In addition to a larger cat holding area, the number of dog kennels will jump from 32 to 48, with room to grow, said WAIF’s Development and Communications Manager Cinnamon O’Brien.
The prospect of added space is exciting for O’Brien and Creighton.
“We’re going to have areas that we’ve never had before,” Creighton said. She added that she is excited about the cat community rooms as well as the six acres and play area for the shelter dogs. “It’s going to be a healthier, happier environment.”
Creighton and O’Brien are two of the leaders in charge of raising funds for the new shelter. The capital project recently received a $25,000 grant from Petco Foundation.
WAIF Executive Director Charles Vreeland applied for the grant, and shelter officials were overjoyed when they got the good news.
“We were hoping for it,” O’Brien said. “Sometimes it’s a little difficult to get grants for capital campaigns. It was a vote of confidence from Petco Foundation.”
Another business supporting WAIF’s capital campaign to fund the new shelter is Payless Foods in Freeland. If someone donates to the shelter, the grocery matches the contribution.
“People are drawn to it because if they give $100, it becomes $200,” O’Brien said.
The offer is good through April 15 and is for a match of up to $50,000, a potential $100,000 windfall for WAIF.
Most of the funds, however, come from individuals in the community.
This capital campaign is different from the funding for daily operations at the shelter. WAIF gets a great deal of support from the community on a day-to-day basis, said O’Brien, and so far one hasn’t taken from the other.
“We’re really asking the community to step in in a big way,” Creighton said, adding the response has been great.
“The money has really been coming in the door since we broke ground on the shelter,” she said. “There are many ways people can contribute to the new shelter.”
Those who donate won’t be forgotten, she said. For example, for $50, people can tag a wall — essentially engraving their name, a pet’s name or a loved one’s name into a steel tag. They can do that online or by filling out a brochure at each WAIF location — the cat cottages in Freeland and Oak Harbor, and the Coupeville cat and dog shelter, which will all remain open after the new shelter opens.
When people pay for a tag, it’s a way of leaving a legacy, O’Brien said.
WAIF is about a half million dollars from reaching its funding goal. Volunteers are trying to raise that by the end of the summer, Creighton said, when the new shelter is anticipated to be completed.
