After 13 years, Arlington Heights no-kill shelter ready to open
After 13 years of fundraising and two years of construction, supporters of the Buddy Foundation are celebrating a long-awaited dream: opening the area's largest no-kill animal shelter.
The Buddy Foundation's grand opening will be held 2-5 p.m. Saturday. Visitors can tour the 10,500-square-foot facility, large enough to hold up to 30 dogs and 125 cats, at 65 W. Seegers Road in Arlington Heights.
"Can you believe it?" asks Jan Bierman, one of the group's founders. "After all these years, we're finally here."
This week, volunteers have put finishing touches on the facility, working with tradesmen to finish "punch list" items.
"We still have a lot of debt to pay off," Bierman adds, "but we're pretty excited."
With their temporary occupancy permit from the village, they already have taken in a few animals, including a 5-year-old King Charles/Pomeranian, and a 7-month-old Labrador/Rottweiler puppy, as well as four abandoned cats.
Officials stress that the shelter only takes in stray and abandoned cats and dogs, and that they do not take in people's unwanted pets.
"We want people to be responsible pet owners," Bierman says.
Mike Flaherty of Arlington Heights has been the project manager. Even before he points out the various intake and examining rooms in the building on a short tour, he stresses how much of its enhancements are donated.
From the furniture and cabinets, to the hardwood trim around the windows and epoxy floors, it all came from local supporters and contractors.
"There have been literally thousands of people who have donated toward this shelter," Flaherty says. "I've never seen such a grassroots effort like this before."
The first thing visitors will notice as they approach the building is its stained glass windows, including one that captures the group's logo of a cat and dog sitting side by side, and wistfully looking up to the sky.
Inside, a portrait of cats and dogs done by Streamwood artist Judy Brinkerhoff-Smith greets people as soon as they walk in the door. The loving pet collage sets the tone for the humane facility.
The facility dedicates one side of the building to cats, and the other to dogs. Both devote the entire length of the facility to kennels and cat condos, while interior rooms include the examining rooms, visiting rooms, intake and isolation area, and a gift shop.
Supporters describe the facility as more of a sanctuary than a shelter, and that it comes after years of foster families paving the way by caring for abandoned animals in their homes until they could be placed.
Buddy Foundation Shelter
65 W. Seegers Road, Arlington Heights.
Adoption hours: 10 a.m.-2 p.m. and 4-8 p.m., Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays; 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sundays.
Cost: Adoption fees are $100 for cats, $125 for kittens and $200 for dogs. Includes a certificate to spay or neuter the animal when it is of age at a Buddy Foundation-affiliated animal hospital. Also includes a microchip which helps identify the animal if it is lost.
To donate: (847) 813-7206.
www.thebuddyfoundation.org