by Barbara Fairbanks,

Vice-President, HSNTx Board of Directors

Many of you have noticed our "Future Home of the Humane Society of Northeast Texas" sign on one of the former soccer field properties at HG Moseley and Loop 1845.  We are asked fairly regularly where we are in the building process, so here's an update. 

We did purchase the property last year, and the Board of Directors is working methodically through the process to raise funding for a new building.   Humane Society of the United States rough estimates based on animal intake tell us that we are likely looking at several million dollars.   We are hoping that we can minimize the cost through as much donated labor and materials as possible, but have to be careful that these donations are of appropriate material and quality for a facility of this nature. 

For capital campaigns of this magnitude to be successful, private and corporate donation commitments must cover at least 50%-60% of the expected cost before the public can be approached formally.   "Success breeds success" is the idea here.   The public will have the confidence to donate if the project appears to be getting enough funding to make building a reality.

Since private and corporate donors need to see a conceptual drawing and have a reasonably accurate dollar figure before they commit to large donations, the first step in any capital campaign is to come up with those pieces of information.   

Transet Company in Longview has been hired to oversee the project's overall construction management.   Transet has helped us complete the process of selecting a local architect, Bart Robinett, who will work in partnership with a consulting firm in Boulder, Colorado to design the facility.   The consulting firm has solid experience in designing animal shelter facilities which require a lot of specialized design and materials.   Bart and the firm plan on leading the Board of Directors and our shelter's Executive Director through a formal needs assessment phase June 16.   From the needs assessment, the architects and our organization will agree on the initial conceptual design.   Transet will work with the various construction contractors to assign a dollar figure to the design.   This information will be used to approach potential large donors.

It's hard to have a solid timeline at this point, but we expect that 2009 would be a reasonable guess for breaking ground.

It may seem as though progress is moving very slowly, but be assured that there is a lot of behind-the-scenes work being done to ensure the successful funding and construction of a facility that will be a reflection of the vision and mission of the HSNTX!