It's 'amazing': PALS cuts ribbon on new digs
Jun. 3—A year after officially opening the front doors to its new permanent location, the People Assisting Lodi Animal Shelter celebrated the completion of its move with a ribbon cutting Wednesday afternoon.
"This was a project of love and certainly took us a number of years," PALS founder Nancy Allenbaugh said.
The organization's new digs, located at 5113 Sargent Road, is 13,000 square feet, nearly 20 times the size of its former home on Kettleman Lane.
It took seven years of planning and waiting to open the new facility, and Allenbaugh said it was built for less than its anticipated $2.5 million budget.
She said that achievement was somewhat remarkable.
"We used the money very wisely, and every penny to us counts," she said. "We moved in debt-free, but that doesn't mean we're expense free. We have no government funding, no city funding. This was all done by people who are just passionate about animals and care about their adoption and welfare."
The new shelter includes several features and amenities PALS could not incorporate in its former home, including three dog runs, three cat viewing rooms, 14 dog yards and isolation rooms for both dogs and carts.
The shelter also boasts four kitchens and four laundry rooms to keep food and dressing separate among animals that need to be isolated from healthy ones.
A 1,350 square-foot veterinarian clinic is still under construction, and the organization's former 700-square-foot home was moved to the site last November to serve as an educational center for youngsters.
Allenbuagh said the organization plans to build another run of kennels in the rear of the main building.
Lodi Chamber of Commerce Ambassador Committee chair Marika Paternostro said the new facility was "amazing," and joked she wanted to volunteer at the shelter just to sit and pet the cats.
"This is a great place," she said. "What I like is that this is a no-kill shelter, and that is just a wonderful thing. You guys are taking in the animals and we need to get them adopted. But God bless your hearts for putting this together and not ending animals' lives when a child could adopt a dog or a cat for life."
Lodi City Councilman Shak Khan congratulated PALS for opening the new facility, noting the city recently chose a new site for its own shelter. He said it was great that both PALS and the city were improving their abilities to house stray dogs and cats.
"It's lovely inside and a great environment for animals," he said. "Especially nowadays, you see a lot of animals being dumped away or get run over by cars. So the more animal shelters we have the less (the problem) is. At the city level, if we could do anything, you guys have our full support. Hopefully in the future we'll work as a team."
