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4 Paws for Ability Building FundHelp Us Expand our Facility So We Can Place More Dogs and Make More Dreams Come True
Because we are so fiscally conservative, we did not want to take out another loan for the new building. So instead, in late 2009, we decided to kick off a capital campaign to raise the $2.1 million needed to add 14,000 square feet onto our existing building and to renovate the 6,000 square feet we currently have. Sadly, we started the campaign in the worst fundraising year in two decades. In addition, we discovered few foundations fund capital campaigns and buildings. Lack of space prevents us from growing and keeping up with demandPhase One
In addition, the crates will not have to be stacked on top of each other because we will have more room. This will decrease our dog care labor costs. There will also be puppy pens and puppy play areas, 4 whelping rooms (we have 1 now and sometimes we use the dog wash/handicapped accessible bathroom as another). We would add a dog wash in the new building, a climate controlled storage room for food so we won't have to rent pods or park tractor trailers in our backyard that hold donated food that sometimes goes bad due to thawing/freezing depending on the weather. We'll have a dedicated room for grooming, staff offices, a staff lounge, and there will still be enough room for an outdoor play area. Another part of our plan is that we will build a surgical suite where our part-time vet would go to full time and have the ability to do spay/neuter and perform other surgeries. Right now, we don't have the proper in-flow/out-flow air systems required of a sterile, surgical environment so we have to use an outside vet to perform these services for us. We will save thousands of dollars a year in outside vet costs when we have the surgical suite in place. Phase One also includes hiring a vet assistant and a foster home coordinator. Phase Two
There will also be training offices (all 4 trainers share one small office), a family kitchen where families can cook meals of their choosing and actually sit at dining room tables. There will still be the inside kids play area and a dog wash. We are not anywhere near our goal to start construction. We have less than $100,000 in our building fund - and we need $2.1 million. We simply cannot grow past placing 100 dogs a year without this new building because of lack of space to house the dogs and lack of training space. This is where you can help. If you or anyone you know is interested in helping us get our new building, please let us know. You can support 4 Paws with a multi-year pledge or a one-time donation. We have naming opportunities available where you or someone you know can name a kennel or area of the building with your child's name and/or dog's name. Naming opportunities are below, along with our building plans. With your help, we can place more dogs each year and make more dreams come true for disabled children around the globe. Thank you for your consideration of 4 Paws. See preliminary plan of new building January 2010 drawings of the proposed additions |
In less than three years after obtaining a loan to purchase the 6,000 sq. ft. building we are currently in, we accomplished a major feat: We placed 100 service dogs.
Our plan entails two phases. Phase One is to add 14,000 square feet onto our building. This new space will house the dogs in state-of-the art dog runs that you might see at a Pet Suites where dog care staff will have the ability to hose these down (there are drains in the floor) vs. having to crawl into the crates to clean them every day, which is what our staff does now. 
In Phase Two, we will renovate and dedicate our existing 6,000 square feet as our training center. There will be a training area similar to what we have now but also a separate training room so if there is a class going on (and there are classes here 4 months out of the year) additional training can be done in that room for future classes. 