PAW breaks ground on animal shelter

Shelter construction starts

We've been blessed by so many people who believe in what we do and have donated and worked hard to get us this new shelter. This is not Sandy's shelter, the board's shelter, or PAW's shelter. It's the community's shelter.”

Sandy Brown, PAW Director

FORT MADISON - Officials with PAW Animal Shelter, donors, and Schickedanz Construction broke ground Thursday afternoon on the shelter's new facility.

Ground had already been scraped and leveled off as golden shovels dipped into the fresh soil just north of the current facility at 2031 48th Street.

PAW Director Sandy Brown said the service area, which includes six counties in three states has just outgrown the need.

"The shelter is being built because for forever this small little building has served the tri-state area and at least six surrounding counties in Missouri, Illinois, and Iowa and we've just outgrown it," she said.

"We've been blessed by so many people who believe in what we do and have donated and worked hard to get us this new shelter.

"This is not Sandy's shelter, the board's shelter, or PAW's shelter. It's the community's shelter."

The new facility is designed to be efficient, easy to navigate, and will allow the public to have a more hands-on approach to the animals waiting to be adopted.

There will be inside/out kennel runs so no animals will be living outside, which Brown said is a must-have part of the design.

The new shelter and adoption center will have Meet-n-Greet Rooms. Cats will be on one designated side, with dogs housed on the other. Nurseries, a true isolation room, play areas, a surgery room for spay clinics, laundry rooms, and more are in the works.

PAW Board of Directors President Brad Walker said supply issues caused by the pandemic have run the price from the initial $5 million to closer to $8 million with final plans.

Schickendanz Construction is the general contractor for the project, and Mark Schickedanz was on hand for the ground-breaking ceremony. Schickedanz said construction should take about a year.

Brown said it's her hope that animals are in the new shelter by the fall of 2023.

"We have animals from 32 states and two countries and there's rarely a day that goes by that I don't have some type of donation in the mailbox. We have truly been very blessed," she said.

Fundraising is still ongoing for the new facility, but Walker said the board has enough money to get construction underway while the rest of the money is raised.

"There's a long way to go. We still have to run the other shelter while we build this one," Brown said.

"But with God's help we're going to get there."