Castaways has officially opened their doors after two decades of work and held a grand opening celebration on Saturday, May 3.
During the celebration, attendees toured the facility, guided by volunteers.
“It feels surreal,” Castaways Board President Liz Wehlage said. “It’s finally being filled with the sounds we want to hear in this building.”
The shelter was built with an intentional design according to Liz. Board member Chris Wehlage said the front entry was designed with visitors in mind.
“The idea was to make an open area that is quiet and clean,” Chris said.
Energy efficiency and safety were also factored into the build, he said.
“Every access area is locked,” Chris said. “You have to have a key.” This means visitors are escorted through the building by shelter staff for safety reasons.
Other elements were chosen to reduce the need for future repairs, such as using exterior paneling in the dog kennels., and exterior paint on the walls. Chris said he toured many other shelters during the design phase and found out what the organizations who ran them felt was done right, and what could be done better in their shelters.
“‘Do it right the first time,’ was the motivation,” Chris said.
He said this approach would lessen future costs.
However, some design choices were more expensive on the front end, such as having separate ductwork, separating the intake hallway, the animal kennel rooms, and boarding. Chris said this decreases the risk of exposing healthy animals to potential illness.
“We don’t want to mix any aspect,” Chris said.
The abundant natural light from windows was another health-centered design choice. Chris said that research showed that animals were less distressed in environments with natural sunlight.
The shelter also features a meeting room for prospective adopters to get to know animals and a break room for volunteers.
For now, only the shelter portions of the building will be utilized, as Castaways is still working on obtaining a license to board animals.
“People need to board their cats and dogs,” Chris said. Ideally, Chris said they’d like to install video cameras so owners can check on their pets online.
“Honestly we are still new to this,” Chris said. “We are just individuals coming together as a whole to do something very needed.”
Liz said that now that they have the space, the shelter needs manpower.
“Our hope is to have a robust volunteer program,” Liz said.
Liz said the current priority is recruiting volunteers and hiring a shelter director to manage the shelter. Liz said this would allow the board to focus on grants and fundraising to maintain and expand operations.
“It’s already difficult to run a small business, it’s even more difficult to run a notfor- profit entity,” Liz said.
While grants are one source of funding, Liz said they can not be the only funding source for an animal shelter. Liz said the shelter’s longevity is directly related to community support.
“Private recurring donations from individuals and businesses are crucial,” Liz said. “Grants are very minimal and very specific.”
While grateful for the continued support for the project until now, Liz said the fundraising efforts will not stop now.
To protect the financial security of the shelter, Liz said the shelter will launch in a limited capacity, and expand operations incrementally as funding allows. This includes limiting the number of animals the shelter takes in and increasing the number of shelter residents slowly.
“The more animals we take in that we don’t have the resources for, the more it threatens the life of the shelter long-term,” Liz said. “It is okay to contact us about an animal, but it is never okay to dump an animal.”
In the days ahead, Chris said he is grateful for the community’s support, patience, and trust.
“We look forward to the challenge, and this partnership with the community,” Chris said.
During the grand opening celebration, volunteers and board members cut a blue ribbon to commemorate the accomplishment. “We are looking forward to the future, starting today,” Castaways founder Verdon Parham said.
Long-time volunteer Cecil Matlock said he was excited about the shelter finally opening.
Attendees said they were impressed with the facility. One such visitor was Kathy Robinson.
“It looks marvelous. I’m glad it’s open,” Robinson said. “This is fabulous.”
Those interested in volunteering at Castaways can sign up to do so online at www. castawayschanute.com or by sending an email inquiry to Liz Whelage, [email protected].
This is the second part of a two-part series about the new Castaways shelter. The first part of this series was included in the April 25 edition of the Chanute Tribune.
