For the North East SPCA, 2017 was an exciting year that’s building towards construction of a new animal shelter in Melfort – a process that’ll accelerate in 2018 due to their first hire.
“We had our ground-breaking, which was something major for us,” said Janine Kernalaguen, the SPCA’s president, after the organization’s annual general meeting March 1. “It was definitely a reminder to the community that we’re still working, we’re still moving forward.”
The new shelter is budgeted at $750,000. The animal welfare organization had almost $434,000 in their bank account as of Dec. 21, 2017. The City of Melfort will guarantee a $500,000 loan.
Kernalaguen said the process to get a new shelter built is a long one that involves extensive fundraising and getting building plans ready. Now, they have to get contractors to construct a new building.
That’s where the new programs manager, Kirby Hardwick, will help speed up the process. The first item on her list is making sure advertising for the construction tenders are out in the next couple of weeks. She and Victor Kernalaguen, the chair of the building committee, will be giving the contractors the information they need. The hope is to start in the summer.
“That’s based on the fact we’re hoping to have the tenders by the end of March. That’s our goal, depending on what we get for information from our contractors,” said Janine Kernalaguen. “We’re hoping to get as many contractors [as possible] from all over the Northeast, so it does need a bit of co-ordination to do that, so if all goes well, we will be looking at early summer to start the groundwork.”
After that, Hardwick will be setting up sponsorship packages. She will be meeting with RM, town and city councils, educating them about what the SPCA will be doing and how they can help them as local communities. She’ll also be getting the word out and getting the support to move forward.
For the NESPCA, 2018 will feature lots of fundraisers, both big and small. Pat Rumberger co-ordinates the events in Melfort, while Jessie Harper co-ordinates the events in Nipawin.
“We are looking for someone to head up our fundraising efforts in Tisdale,” Kernalaguen said.
The president said Northeast residents should keep an eye on their Facebook page and website to keep up with what they’re doing.
“The more people that come out to make fundraisers successful, the sooner we will be able to be building, be open and be able to help our local communities.”
