I'm a little late in posting this, but it's been a busy hurricane season. Anyway...
I've been a part of Hope for Animals, a non-profit rescue group in Thibodaux, LA, for about 8 years now. 8 years ago, our rescue kennel was basically cages with rocks on the ground. Over the years, using money from fundraisers, we've added kennel space, built a roof structure complete with gutters, running water, electricity, timed fans, bug lights, fencing, etc. Eventually, the kennel was extended to house about 25 dogs. During Hurricane Gustav, a huge pecan tree fell onto our kennel and destroyed the structure. It completely took out 6 kennels. Thankfully, all of our dogs were evacuated, but at the time, the kennel housed 22 large dogs. Some of the dogs have been with our organization ever since I began there. We're a no-kill group, so once they're in the program, if they never get a home, they always have a home with us. That's also why we're limited on space at the kennel.
On Sunday, my dad and I went to the kennel to assess damage. My dad is a draftsman and experienced carpenter, so he volunteered to figure out what could be done to salvage the kennel. Thankfully, we can reuse most of the wood. So once we get the tree removed, we're going to try to arrange for either a crew of trustees from the parish prison to take down the structure or for a group of volunteers to do the deconstruction. My dad is volunteering his time to draw the new design for our kennel. If anything good is coming out of this, it's that we will be able to rebuild with a set plan instead of just adding on over the years. We should be able to maximize space and add some of the features we lacked before, like concrete runs with drainage troughs, higher ceilings, storage areas, etc.
If you'd like to see the pictures, they're available at www.hopeforanimals.com I went into the structure and took some pictures from the inside, and those really show the damage, but they're on my other laptop. If anyone would care to help in any way...especially if you have info about grants...please PM me.
Thanks!