12/30/2024
This is a long, but very important post. Please read until the end.
We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, but we unfortunately have some not great news to share.
Due to the cost of rehabbing the house on Blue Lick, our project is now on hold. We are unsure if it will proceed any further at this time.
Our estimates from professionals have shown it will take around $22,000 to get the house in order. We were only given $35,000 in total to start our facility. As we do not own the house (it is owned by the Lincoln County Economic Development Authority), this would mean using up $22,000 of our funding that we would never see any kind of return on. Should this property not work out (safety has always been a concern), we would be investing all of that money into something we do not own. Financially and ethically, this isn’t something we are willing to do. The money was awarded to help animals, not to rehab a home.
We have presented this information to the EDA and asked them to contribute $20,000 to fix up the house since they will continue to own it. As of right now, they are unsure they want to do this and have asked us to not spend any more money on the shelter project at Blue Lick while it’s under consideration.
Currently, we have already spent several thousand on buying windows/doors and paying to have them installed. This was done in attempt to secure the property and prevent any future destruction.
We also spent much time and effort cleaning out the house that was full of trash and debris. In preparation, we have already purchased kennels, insulated dog houses, and thousands of dollars in supplies as we found amazing deals over Black Friday. This is all being stored at volunteer homes.
Because of all of this, we do hope the EDA will see this as a worthy investment and allow us to continue, provided they are able to contribute the additional funding. However, their budget is also small so it may not be a wise financial move for them either. Thus, we’re currently in a holding pattern.
We will provide updates as we have them, but for now, our efforts will be focused on our new partnership with the Lincoln County Health Department and providing spay/neuter services. We remain closed to intakes at this time.
Thank you to everyone that has supported us this far, and we hope to be able to share happy news in the future.
