We are continuing to pursue our dream and plan for our on-site spay/neuter and basic care veterinary clinic. Last year we kicked off our building campaign at our first-ever fall Gala. We raised $50,000 thanks to the generosity of Gala attendees and a matching contribution from an anonymous donor. During our October 12 Gala event this year, we have a goal of surpassing last year’s amazing success. To date, we have raised $42,000 of our $300,000 building goal. To reach our goal to break ground and start construction we need to raise $250,000.
A medical clinic is needed to support our expanding lifesaving mission. We are currently running transport to our vets in Ashland 5 days a week and performing our own routine medical support such as vaccinations and bandage changes without a designated clinic space. Our staff and work are excellent … but our shelter facility is not a medical clinic. Our dogs, our community of supporters, and all who love dogs know we need this on-site medical clinic.
What an on-site medical clinic will achieve:
Why we need an on-site medical clinic:
- Rescue Ranch needs an on-site clinic to enhance our ability to save lives and serve the community. Rescue Ranch has gained a reputation as a small but mighty dog rescue organization committed to saving lives and supporting our community. We have excellent staff and volunteers who are dedicated to saving lives but we are severely constrained by the limitations of time needed to travel to Ashland for spay/neuter, health exams, and basic medical care. We are also taking in more medically challenging dogs such as parvo virus-infected puppies. These puppies need special care and an isolation unit in an onsite facility will provide that safe space for healing these puppies and back-up for our dedicated volunteers. We urgently need a clinic to support and streamline our lifesaving work.
- Rescue Ranch needs our own dedicated space for veterinary care due to dramatic increases in the number of dogs’ lives saved. Rescue Ranch has grown dramatically over the past five years. Intake of dogs from Siskiyou County shelters, owner surrenders, and transfers from high kill shelters elsewhere in California has grown our lifesaving efforts from 240 dogs admitted and 168 adopted in 2014 to 400 dogs admitted and 310 adopted so far in 2019. Our puppy saving program alone has grown from 0 in 2014 to over 144 so far this year. This growth has taxed our ability and the ability of our wonderful partner vets at Ashland Animal Medical Hospital to keep up with timely spay/neuter, routine medical needs, as well as all of our special medical needs dogs helped through “Kitu’s Fund”.
- We want to better serve our community and other small rescue organizations. Our dream is to provide affordable low-cost spay-neuter and vaccinations year-round to the dogs belonging to families in our area. We also have a dream to be able to help small rescues that currently have the same limited access to spay/neuter in a timely manner and at an affordable rate. Currently, there is no low-cost spay/neuter clinic within 75 miles of Yreka. And those clinics within an hour and a half drive are booked out for months, making it impossible for many families to spay/neuter and vaccinate their dogs in a timely manner. Having a clinic in Yreka will allow us to provide this basic veterinary care to the families in our community. More spay/neuter and vaccinations equal fewer dogs needing homes, fewer abandoned dogs, and fewer cases of heartbreaking parvo puppies in our community.
The Clinic
- What are the costs and how did you arrive at the budget? The total budget for the project is $350,000. This includes architectural design, construction costs, site improvements, permitting, kennels, and medical equipment. It also includes a contingency allowance for unanticipated changes.
- What are the anticipated revenue sources for the project? We expect the project to be funded primarily by individual donors, with additional funding from foundations, planned donations through wills and trusts, and grants.
- How long will construction take, and will it be phased? The project is divided into two phases. Phase I is the construction of a medical clinic building with kennels for recovery and isolation. If we meet our groundbreaking donation amount construction will begin in 2020. Phase II is an expanded kennel facility to house dogs that are not quite yet ready for adoption. This portion of the facility will house dogs quarantined until concern for contagious diseases such as kennel cough have passed, general post-surgery recovery areas for spay/neuter, and more complicated surgeries such as broken legs and other traumatic injuries. Careful budget planning has given us the most cost-effective way to provide for this facility. The full amount must be raised to complete the project – so any shortfalls in fundraising could delay the construction of portions of the project.
- Why should donors have confidence in investing in this project? The Rescue Ranch Board of Directors and Executive Staff are confident the necessary funds can be raised. Rescue Ranch’s Board unanimously supports the project and has committed to our fundraising goal. The feedback Rescue Ranch receives on daily basis from our community is how important and how great the need is in Siskiyou County for this facility.