Team plans for the future of West End Animal Shelter

(Ontario, CA) - The West End Animal Shelter for years has operated like a shelter. But when the shelter is a nonprofit, attention needs to be placed on finances. Aware of its financial struggles and deteriorating buildings, volunteers at the shelter recently set up the West End Plan Team. The team has developed a five-year plan that will provide financial direction as well as structure a planned 12,000- square-foot animal hospital. "We would be OK, but some years we would just squeak by, but there were times it wasn't squeaking by at all," said Dale Namminga, leader of the West End Plan Team.

West End Animal Shelter at 1010 E. Mission Blvd. is San Bernardino County's only no-kill shelter. With six paid staff members and five board of directors members, the shelter relies on volunteers to help the operation, which can be a temporary home for up to 200 dogs and cats, said Anne Linquist, board member and volunteer. "This is their home until they get another home," Linquist said. With a $200,000 annual operating budget, the majority of the shelter's income comes from shot clinics, adoption fees and donations. "There's nothing of sustainable income here, and that's been the big hole here," Namminga said. To get to the point where the shelter has a sustainable income, the team has hired a person to handle fundraising as well as a grant writer. The new hires are included in the West End Animal Shelter five-year plan that the team completed in July.

Volunteers last month were able to get a new electrical system thanks to a electrician who donated his services. The first phase of the plan included the installation of the electrical system and working on three deteriorating buildings. The goal is to replace the three wooden buildings, which date back to the 1950s, to cement buildings that would last longer, have improved living conditions and better ventilation, Namminga said. The buildings serve as home for senior dogs, puppies and animals that need to be quarantined, Linquist said. Namminga said he would like to have the buildings upgraded in the next couple of months, but that will depend on how much help the shelter gets from the community.

The next phase of the plan will be to focus on fundraising as well as the new animal hospital. Namminga said he hopes to put on two fundraising events beginning next year. "I have confidence that we're going to get the money," he said. The biggest task will be building the 12,000-square- foot building on the shelter's empty lot, which is adjacent to the exisiting shelter. Since the shelter already owns the property, Linquist said she anticipates that the project will cost about $800,000. The goal is to have the hospital built in two years. The two-story building would have the hospital on the bottom floor and the administrative offices and classrooms above it. The rooms would be open to clubs or organizations in the community. "I want the public outreach, so people become aware of what we're doing," Namminga said. "This is a safe haven for the guy who has to move or who cannot afford their pet. They know when they leave them there, they are not going to be killed but they are going to be adopted."

As funds are raised for the new building, Namminga said he would also like to start an endowment fund, which would help pay for staff and other costs at the shelter. "This would allow us to offer things back to the community like scholarships to students who want to get into an animal-related field," he said. Namminga said the plan in five years is to use the current administrative offices as a warehouse and the new entrance to the shelter would be to the east where the new building would go. The pieces all just began to come together once the five-year plan was put in place, Namminga said.

Volunteers at the shelter have already had some assistance; several local businesses have donated their services. Rancho Cucamonga-based Perry Design & Advertising has joined the plan team and will provide advertising for the shelter. The ads will run in local magazines as well as several billboards in the region, he said. Ontario-based HMC Architects is also on the planning team and will assist the shelter with renderings to redesign the whole site, including the animal hospital.

Since July, the planning team has been in constant contact with the shelter through e-mail. They also try to meet once a month about the progress of the plan, he said. Before the companies stepped in, Namminga said he received bids valued at $20,000 for renderings of the site. Namminga said the donated services of Perry Design & Advertising and HMC Architects are helping shelter officials move the process along quicker. He said he hopes to deliver the plans in the next couple of months to the city for approval. "I want to help build something useful that will be here 50 years from now," Namminga said. "The more room we have the more we can rescue animals."

liset.marquez@inlandnewspapers.com

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