Richmond Animal League prepares for 30th anniversary

When Susan Kelly started her job 18 months ago at the Richmond Animal League, she was told she'd be sharing an office with Pauline.

No problem, Kelly thought. The operation is a nonprofit, so Kelly figured plenty of people were sharing offices as part of a typical cost-saving mind-set.

As it turns out, Pauline isn't your typical co-worker, and the RAL isn't your typical office.

The first clue comes when you walk through the door of the 3,400-square-foot building near Midlothian Turnpike and Courthouse Road in Chesterfield County.

Several dozen crates lining the walls of the lobby serve as temporary homes for cats and kittens -- for the simple reason that there's nowhere else to put them.

The next clue comes when you meet Pauline. She's a tabby cat who's been calling the shelter home for nine of her 11 years. Pauline is one of the animals available for adoption, but because she has yet to be taken home by anyone, and because the shelter bills itself as Richmond's oldest no-kill facility, Pauline gets to stay.

And with that much seniority, Pauline has free rein to stay pretty much anywhere she wants at the shelter.

"Nine years," Kelly said, "and she's earned that right."

The Richmond Animal League is celebrating its 30th anniversary Sunday with an open house at a facility that has become a monument to doing more with less. A kitchen can double as a treatment area for visiting veterinarians, and an office also can be used for storage.

"Pretty much every area of the shelter is going to double as something else," said Kelly, the shelter's development director.

Hired to develop funding sources in an increasingly competitive world of nonprofits, Kelly has helped revenue for the shelter grow to $516,865 last fiscal year, an increase of 64 percent from the year before her arrival.

While the shelter's annual revenue pales in comparison with the more than $5 million of the Richmond SPCA, the region's largest no-kill facility, the Richmond Animal League has found a different kind of reliable source to help it make up for a lack of money.

More than 450 people volunteer at the shelter each week, showing up from before dawn until after dusk to help with even the most menial of tasks.

"We've got doctors and lawyers who want to do nothing but come in here and pet dogs and cats and scoop poop," Kelly said. "There's a lot of animal people around here who support us."

That large group of volunteers is a key reason why the shelter, which can hold up to 125 dogs and cats at any one time, has seen its adoption numbers swell from 207 in 2004 to 755 last year.

Those volunteers also are a big reason why the shelter has been able to grow with just five employees. Kelly and kennel director Pam Bridgmon are the only full-timers.

And those volunteers aren't the only ones helping out. It's not unusual for Kelly and Bridgmon to show up for work each morning and find a couple bags of pet food propped against the front door. Or a spare dog crate. Or some cat toys.

"Leave it on the front porch," Kelly said. "We'll bring it in."

The shelter has two major fundraisers annually to help generate money for what volunteers cannot provide. Woofstock, scheduled for May 30, is a carnival held on Monument Avenue featuring dog agility, contests, music, food and the like, and Best In Show is a 10-week fundraising competition.

The end result of the volunteerism and fundraising is that the shelter is able to offer adoption-ready dogs and cats that have been spayed or neutered and given all age-appropriate shots. The adoption fee is $150 for puppies and $125 for all other animals.

With the need to find homes for stray animals growing, the shelter hopes to eventually be able to move to larger quarters. For now, the mission is simple.

"They show up here," Kelly said, "and we do the best we can for them."

Contact Joe Macenka at (804) 649-6804 or .