Longmont Humane Society Now and Forever Campaign Reaches Phase 1 Goal

Volunteer Camie Kirkevold works with a cat named Kiki on Wednesday at the Longmont Humane Society. (Matthew Jonas/Times-Call)

According to The Longmont Humane Society they have reached their Phase 1 goal of their "Now and Forever" Campaign.  They avoided foreclosure! They were able to make their November payment of  $772,227.68 "because of the generous support of our friends and donors in Longmont." 

They did it "after cashing in its investments," director Liz Smokowski told the Longmont Times Call. The investments netted $363,118, which combined with $526,932 in donations exceeded the amount needed for this year's payment.



The shelter's Board members have worked diligently to "improve and augment" their operating finances which the Longmont Humane Society has been concerned about for several years. Over the past two years, Longmont Humane Society changed leadership in order to take a new direction and respond to the urgency of their financial situation. As a result, they have raised animal adoption prices, reduced staffing costs and marketing expenditures, increased the number of volunteer positions, and boosted their fundraising efforts. "Longmont Humane Society has achieved a combined positive cash flow from operating and investing activities over the past two years." They say their cash drain "is related to financing of the construction project and the related bond offering that was taken."Without their principal and interest payments, Longmont Humane Society would be wholly sustainable.  

The Longmont Humane Society will still need to raise the final $2.4 million even after this payment. Liz Smokowski, hired in 2011 by the Longmont Humane Society, told the Times Call the shelter is "still seeking donations to cover the payment because cashing in the investments drained all of the its savings." Their operating expenses are now compromised and they have no reserves.

The fundraising campaign is titled, "The Longmont Humane Society: Serving the Community Now and Forever." Focused on the November payment until now, they now seek "to raise $3.1 million to pay off the remaining loan amount by the fall of 2014." Next year's loan payment is also $772,000, so they are far from out of the woods. Phase 2 of their campaign is to raise $2.4 million by the end of 2014.

Donate to the Now and Forever Campaign here

Click title below if you want to order my book(s):
MAGGIE the Dog Who Changed My Life
FINAL YEARS Stories of Parent Care, Loss and Lives Changed

You and I Together Can Keep Longmont Humane Society From Foreclosing

Longmont Humane Society is still working avoid foreclosure. I wrote about them in a previous post on 8/7/13. They are still looking for donations. And still hopeful.



I so want to help. Do you? Longmont Humane Society is just a few miles up the road from where I live. They help so many animals. Probably like you, what I can contribute alone is limited. With your help, here is what I will do. My new book, FINAL YEARS Stories of Parent Care, Loss and Lives Changed  is on Kindle. Between now and November 29, for each of you who purchases a Kindle copy of FINAL YEARS , I will contribute the full amount of $6.99 per book to Longmont Humane Society. Simply email your receipt from Amazon to me at dawnkairns@yahoo.com. It doesn't sound like much, but it can add up if you choose to participate.

To learn more about the plight of Longmont Humane Society, see the 10/31/13 article in the Times Call newspaper for the full story and for how you can donate directly to the shelter. With only 12 days left, more than $200,000 still needs to be raised. They have raised over $500,000 in the past several months. Please take a moment to watch the 11/17/13video above from 9NEWS.

If you have any quick fundraising ideas for Longmont Humane Society, please share them with me in your comments. Thank you for your help!

Click title below if you want to order my book(s):

MAGGIE the Dog Who Changed My Life

FINAL YEARS Stories of Parent Care, Loss and Lives Changed

Longmont Humane Society Facing Possible Foreclosure

The following excerpts are from an article printed in the Longmont Times Call newspaper on July 25, 2013. The Longmont Humane Society is in grave danger of having to close their doors. I am posting the article here to help LHS gain as many donations as possible so they can continue doing their wonderful work for the animals. Longmont Humane has truly championed the cause of pitbull terriers. Thanks to LHS, so many pitbulls that would have faced euthanasia due to breed bans in other cities are instead enjoying their lives with loving families.

Longmont Humane Society makes plea for donations to avoid foreclosure

$772k needed by November for loan payment

By Whitney Bryen Longmont Times-Call

LONGMONT -- The Longmont Humane Society is asking for $772,227 in donations by Nov. 30 to avoid possible foreclosure later this year.

Construction cost overruns from the facility's expansion that began in 2006 and six years of financial deficits have drained the organization's reserves, leaving the humane society unable to make its 2013 and subsequent annual loan payments, executive director Liz Smokowski said.

The nonprofit needs to raise this year's payment within four months or the organization could face foreclosure or be forced to file for bankruptcy as early as December, said Smokowski, who inherited the loan when she was hired at the end of 2011.

In 2006, the town of Lyons, which uses the society's services, issued a bond for $6 million on behalf of the humane society under the state's Municipalities Development Revenue Bond Act to allow the society to begin construction. Wells Fargo now holds the loan.

In 2005, philanthropist Susan Allen of New York had promised the humane society $5 million for the expansion of its facility. That gift came over five years in $1 million increments.
...
The organization's financial problems are due to construction costs for the right away on its expansion. The organization's financial problems are due to construction costs for the 43,000-square-foot expansion and annual deficits from 2006 to 2011 exceeding $1.6 million. The cost of the expansion was forecast to be about $8.2 million but came in at $9 million by the time it opened in January 2009, Smokowski said.

Donations decreased starting in 2007 following the economic downturn, and operating costs increased once the expansion was completed due to higher utility costs and expenses associated with the care of more animals.
...
Currently loan-holder Wells Fargo has refused to renegotiate the loan. More than a dozen other banks have refused the organization's request to take over the loan, mostly due to the deficits, Smokowski said.

Shortly after Smokowski's arrival, the humane society hired an auditor to go over financial statements from 2003, which revealed six consecutive years of deficits.
 ...
The nonprofit has launched a fundraising campaign, The Longmont Humane Society: Serving the Community Now and Forever, focused on large gifts to achieve the organization's immediate and long-term goals, which include paying off the remaining $3.1 million on the loan by the fall of 2014.

...
Read full article here: Times Call

To donate checks should be made out to the Longmont Humane Society with "now and forever" written in the memo line and mailed to:

The Longmont Humane Society
9595 Nelson Road
Longmont, CO 80501

Contact: Liz Smokowski at 303-772-1232, ext. 225, or liz@longmonthumane.org or Shelley McLeod at 720-864-2878 or smcleod@longmontchamber.org

Whitney Bryen can be reached at 303-684-5274 or wbryen@times-call.com.

Maddie Expands Her Therapy Dog Duties and Spreads Her Joy

Posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of MAGGIE: the dog who changed my life

 Many of you know our dog, Maddie, is a therapy dog at the County Juvenile Center where we visit the kids each week. A few weeks ago, Maddie and I tried something new. We made a therapy dog visit to my grandson's preschool. What fun this was! My husband,Tom, joined us on this one. They were having "career week," where parents came and talked to the kids about different jobs (have kids advanced since I was that age?) -- so I talked about what a volunteer is and types of animal-related volunteer jobs. And Maddie let them know all the different important jobs that dogs do for humans, like her current job as a therapy dog, service dogs, search and rescue dogs, etc.

We walked around the circle so all the children could meet and pet Maddie, except for those with allergies, who sat back from the circle so we wouldn't stop there. A great time was had by all of us! As we were leaving, one little girl said, "we had fun, did you?" Precious!

Maddie is expanding her therapeutic circle in other ways, too. In addition to her every day interaction with people she touches, who comment as they did with Maggie about how happy she is, we visited a children's reading program at Columbine Elementary School in Boulder last week. I'd never considered a reading program before as I thought Maddie was way too high energy for such a "sedentary" job. 

Well, she was a bit off the wall in my book, but the kids loved her and so did the teachers. I credit Lisa, the special education teacher and program initiator, and her relaxed, fun, flexible attitude with seeing Maddie as very workable.

"Can we read with you?", asked two of the children hopefully as soon as we walked into the room. Of course, they wanted to read with the new dog in class!

There were 3 dog/handler teams that day for the children to read to. The kids came over in pairs and each one read a page to Maddie and me. After 10 minutes, each pair switched and moved on to another therapy dog/guardian team.

"Can she come lay in the middle of us," asked one child when Maddie was lying on one side of me. I love that young children will just ask for what they want!

"I'm afraid of dogs," Eileen calmly smiled at me as Maddie placed her head on her lap while she read. I never would have read it in her body language. I moved Maddie to a more comfortable distance for her. "I like them here, just not too close to me," she said. Once again, refreshing honesty! I learned that before the reading program began Eileen was terrified of dogs. What a long way she has come!

"Can we have a card?" asked the children each time a pair finished reading with us. Lisa saw my puzzled look and showed me the cards with the other dog's photos, birthdays, and "Paws to Listen" written on the card. A canine business card! She explained to the kids that this was my first day and I didn't have a card yet.

"We'd love to have you both. She did great!" smiled Lisa. "We really need dogs for the program.

"I love her energy!" said one of the other teachers. "I hope you come back."

 "J.J. was off the wall when he first started," his handler/guardian told me. "Maddie did fine!"

Needless to say, we felt so welcome and it was a joyous atmosphere. Oh yes, we'll be back! Today, in fact. We are going to finish out this school year as a reading program therapy dog team, which is part of Longmont Humane Society's Paws to Listen Program.

(All photos are from our visit to my grandson's preschool, and not from Columbine Elementary's Paws to Listen Reading Program).