The Animal Welfare Alliance of Southeast Missouri (AWA) wants to buy the existing Hillcrest Animal Hospital on South Westwood Boulevard in Poplar Bluff and convert it into a regional no-kill animal shelter.
AWA has announced this as what officers of the nonprofit are calling “the opportunity of a lifetime.”
Owners Drs. Mason and Kathryn Bell are building a new clinic on Shelby Road.
“We are very excited about the project. It would allow us to open the desperately needed no-kill shelter we have been dreaming and saving for during the past 10 years,” said AWA President Marge Van Praag.
Van Praag said the existing Hillcrest facility has all the features AWA needs to operate a shelter: dog pens, cat “condos,” exercise areas, examination and operating rooms, quarantine space, get-acquainted rooms and more.
AWA will need substantial donations to achieve the Hillcrest project.
“We need $600,000 for the purchase, initial operations and possible emergencies while we line up operating grants,” Van Praag explained. “We could not hope to build a similar facility for that amount.”
AWA has started a Go Fund Me page to help raise money for the project.
“We will name all or various parts of the building after major donors – or persons or pets of their choice,” Van Praag continued. “And large donations will be held in escrow until we get the project funded,” she said.
Interested supporters can visit www.charity.gofundme.com/awashelter, they can access the page from AWA’s website, www.awasemo.org, or they can donate through PayPal on the AWA website. Donors also can send checks to AWA, PO Box 647, Poplar Bluff, MO., 63902, or can call AWA Secretary Charlotte Craig for more information at 573-718-2956.
“Everyone in this area knows how desperately an animal shelter is needed,” said Van Praag. “There are no animal rescue facilities outside the city limits of Poplar Bluff or Piedmont in our four-county area, so unwanted dogs and cats continue to be dumped on the highways, drowned or shot. A regional animal shelter is a quality-of-life issue for animals and the people who want to help them.”
AWA has no paid employees; all officers and board members serve as volunteers.
The organization spends up to $2,000 a month on programs, organizers said. With the cooperation of Poplar Bluff’s Animal Control officers, AWA helps provide vaccinations for puppies and kittens in the city’s shelter. AWA also provides $50 vouchers for qualifying pet owners to help with spay/neuter costs. Since its first full year of operation in 2009, AWA has spent more than $85,000 to help spay and neuter area dogs and cats.
The Animal Welfare Alliance of Southeast Missouri is registered with state and federal authorities as a nonprofit organization under Section 501(c)3 of the U.S. tax code. The purpose of the Poplar Bluff-based organization is to foster a spirit of cooperation among all public and private animal care organizations and agencies in the area, to encourage and support the adoption, neutering and spaying of pets and to seek shelter for abandoned animals. For more information on AWA activities, or to enlist as a volunteer, visit the organization at www.awasemo.org or www.facebook.com/awasemo.