Our jouney from the abyss
Pros: Awesome staff!
Cons: Too many animals for too little staff and too little money
Reviewed: 10 months ago -- Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Pet Service Reviewed by: Ken H. (khugendubler)
Supporting Shelter: Humane Society of Harrisburg Area - East Shore
Reviewed Service
Review Details
I took over as board president 13 months ago and we were on the verge of bankruptcy. Staff morale was low and we had many difficult decisions to make including whether to close our West Shore shelter, whether to continue to use an inhouse vet or to outsource that function to the Vet community. Our best decision was to no longer euthanize animals for space but that means we are extremely crowded and need additional space! Our budget is $1.3 M to cover 3c counties. 3 counties and over 7,000 animals per year. We compare ourselves to many other animal organization that are low kill shelters or euthanize animals for space have a larger shelter and have a significantly higher budget and have more employees than we.
We hired a new executive director 12 months ago. She has made a lot of tough decisions but we are on the way to financial recovery. We still need significantly more space to house the animals. We are forced to hold board meetings at other locations as our board room is being used to house animals.
We hired a new executive director 12 months ago. She has made a lot of tough decisions but we are on the way to financial recovery. We still need significantly more space to house the animals. We are forced to hold board meetings at other locations as our board room is being used to house animals.
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Discussion
6 comments found.
Why don't you try for government funding? You can never get enough money from fund raising alone. You need to contact the state and county officials and the media. I think it could be done. Pennsylvania should support all of it's shelters - if not fully, even partial funding would help.
Janet Finegan
Janet Finegan
As I copied flyers and handed out pull tabs at pet smart, pet athority and other places I know animal lovers can be found the # 1 concern was stabile management at the shelter (which we now see) and more dedicate staff and boy do you have dedicated staff ( I was out several months ago to drop off food and went to visit the cats - well cut my legs off but I petted every cat that meowed and when a staff member spotted me he told me very politely the consequences of what I was doing and informed me I needed to stop immediately or leave. He was as nice as he could be, I could have thrown up but he was absolutely right and I new it! How reassuring to see such young , knowledgeable and careing staff. You get 4 paws up.
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