The Michigan Animal Rescue League launched its first-ever Comprehensive Campaign: HOME. HEART. FUREVER. a few months ago. The success of this campaign has the impact to drastically impact the at-risk animals in southeast Michigan – and includes the expansion and renovation of MARL’s 65 year-old facility located at the corner of MLK and Featherstone in Pontiac.
Within the first two years of this five-year comprehensive campaign, MARL has raised $6,229,518 towards the $12 million overall goal.
A generous donor who wishes to remain anonymous has committed a challenge gift to MARL of $1 million. This dedicated donor will match, dollar for dollar, all gift commitments and multi-year pledges of $25,000 or more to the campaign if documented by December 31st of 2019.
The challenge was given with the intention of encouraging additional major donors to support MARL’s meaningful campaign effort.
After more than 65 years in the same Pontiac location the Michigan Rescue Animal League (MARL) will break ground on a 15,000 sq. ft., state-of-the-art, “Different Breed of Shelter” next week. MARL’s Different Breed of Shelter promises to challenge the stereotypes of traditional animal shelters, offering 24-hour indoor-outdoor access for dogs, several play areas for animals to exercise and custom-built cat housing with natural light and plenty of visibility to potential adopters.
Not your grandfather’s animal shelter:
Construction began in July on the new facility which will be three-times as large and will offer plenty for dogs, cats, volunteers, and potential adopters to be happy about! Tripling in square footage, every inch of space is laser focused on the best interest of the animals from the moment they arrive at MARL until they walk out the door to their new home. The flexibility of the design will allows MARL to tailor each animal’s experience based on their varying needs.
The MARL facility will include:
- 24-hour custom-built, indoor-outdoor housing for dogs
- Custom-designed, open-view cat housing
- Multiple activity rooms for training and animal enrichment
- Dog “neighborhoods,” each with their own individual yards
- State-of-the-art air exchange and managed air quality for disease control
- In-house medical capabilities
- Dedicated walking trail
MARL opened its doors in Pontiac in 1953. A drastic increase in demand for their services caused the existing shelter to become overcrowded and in need of repair over the years. Building a new facility made better economic and practical sense than trying to upgrade an outdated structure.
“The new facility is just the beginning,” said Magee Humes, MARL executive director, “This campaign focuses on three priority areas that will allow us to reach more animals, expand our life-saving programs and save innocent lives well into the future. This means an in-house medical program, increased enrichment for the animals and a more robust outreach program to assist at-risk animals in our community.”
“This campaign arises from absolute necessity,” adds Humes, “MARL is saving a record number of animals whose lives depend on the services that we can provide. This campaign will elevate our level and impact of care, expand our programs and ensure that we are able to save innocent lives well into the future.”
The architect for the project is Ply+ out of Ann Arbor and the CM is Frank Rewold & Sons out of Rochester.
MARL provided care to more than 1,500 animals in 2018.
For more information, contact: Magee Humes, 248-778-5351 or mhumes@marl.org
