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Randy Foster/editor@cherokeescout.com This outdoor kennel will need to be replaced, according to an estimated $262,821 in state-required improvements at the Valley River Humane Society in Marble. -
Randy Foster/editor@cherokeescout.com Kylee Michaels, clinic manager at the Valley River Humane Society in Marble, attends to an elderly dog. The organization is required to add dedicated pre-op and operating rooms to the facility, among the more than $260,000 in upgrades the state is requiring.
Marble – The Valley River Humane Society, a vital nonprofit animal shelter serving three counties that is always scrapped for cash, is in the middle of a new financial challenge that is costing more than $260,000.
In the end, the organization will feature a vastly improved facility that meets state health requirements. But in the meantime, the challenge is daunting.
Jim Gerke, president of the board at Valley River Humane Society, said meeting state health standards puts the nonprofit “between a rock and a hard space.”
The project will bring the facility up to hospital-grade standards. Every wall and door inside the facility that comes into contact with animals has to be retrofitted with Fiberglass-reinforced plastic panels.
The facility is also required to build a separate pre-op and surgical suite, plus install about $25,000 in perimeter fencing to keep animals that get loose from their pens from escaping the facility. The money has so far come from what little savings the organization has set aside, but now that source is about tapped out.
Costs have been mounting every week. When he was interviewed by the Cherokee Scout on March 29, Gerke had written almost $6,200 in checks. “That’s just what got done this week,” he said.
The humane society has already spent $201,821 as of March 31, with another $61,000 estimated to complete the project and bring it into compliance with state standards. And what if it doesn’t?
“The state says do this or close down,” Gerke said.
He added that the state has been lenient, extending the deadline to complete the upgrades year after year, but that time has past.
That’s not the only challenge as a result of state requirements. The humane society will have to increase its annual payroll from $549,371 to $743,773 to fill gaps where volunteers can’t.
The 25-year-old shelter, located on 16 acres off of U.S. 19/74 in Marble, employs 30 full- and part-time people at the shelter as well as three part-time workers at its thrift store.
The humane society operates on revenue from donations, thrift store sales, adoption fees and contributions from Cherokee, Clay and Graham counties – which contract with the facility to house stray and unwanted animals. Cherokee County is the largest of the three counties and contributes about two-thirds of the $379,713 budgeted in fiscal year 2024.
Expenses other than payroll include $283,406 for food, litter, medicine and other supplies directly related to animal care; $90,157 for veterinary services; $63,733 in rent; $184,018 in maintenance and repairs; and $34,373 for truck and other transportation costs.
That doesn’t take into account the countless hours from volunteers – 30 at the thrift store, 40 at the shelter. The volunteers help capture stray animals, care for animals, do laundry, help at adoption events, drive animals where needed and socialize with animals to make them adoptable.
North Carolina counties are required to either provide animal shelter services or contract for those services. The Valley River Humane Society provides a pool of services for Cherokee, Clay and Graham counties at far less cost than if they ran shelters.
“It’s an essential service that is saving counties money,” Gerke said. “As a vendor, we’re taking a huge burden off of them.”
During coming weeks, Gerke and others with the shelter will be visiting county governments to request not simply a status quo in funding – hard enough to do each year – but funding increases to help keep the facility afloat.
“We’re doing everything we can do; it’s just simply not enough,” Gerke said.