Checking Out Aggieland Humane Society

One of the things our Board of Directors works on is finding out how other successful animal welfare organizations accomplish all they do, from raising funds to spay and neuter programs, to building shelter facilities. 

Thor was my back-seat companion.

Friday afternoon, since there was no internet in Cameron anyway, Jean Shara, Mark McKibben, Thor the canine, and I  went on a fact-finding mission to Aggieland Humane Society in Brazos County (Bryan to be exact). Our brains are now very full.

We Were Impressed

We found the whole facility to be warm and friendly. You feel welcome as soon as you approach the place, too. They had a series of signs thanking their sponsors as you drove up the driveway, shown below. The shelter is off the road (which is good) and on beautiful land.

We met with the executive director, Kathy Bice, who started out as an Animal Control Officer and has learned the animal shelter business from the ground up. She was incredibly generous with her knowledge of building animal shelters, most important of which is to not skimp on quality, so whatever you do will last. That’s important as we consider what we want to do for animals outside of the city limits of Cameron or Rockdale.

Above is their planned expansion. The brown buildings are what’s already there. Notice the shape of the garden.

More important, she also gave us invaluable information for ways to raise the funding our Milam Touch of Love organization will need to create a quality facility for our county’s animals. They have some really creative ideas that she shared with us.

Kathy Bice in her office, with the master plan for their facility.

One good thing she stressed was that we’d need a long-term plan to get where we want to be. We have a good start, but need to keep up our work getting donors and members.

When someone adopts an animal, they get their picture taken on this bench.

As someone who’s worked with a lot of nonprofit executive directors, I was quite impressed with Kathy Bice’s range of skills and congenial manner. The Aggieland folks are lucky to have her, and we’re lucky to benefit from what she’s learned.

What we saw

In addition to chatting, Kathy took us on a tour of the facility. One thing she said stuck with me: “Our shelter is a happy place.” (Quite a contrast to how incredibly sad the Austin shelter I visited was.)

Dog building and mobile spay/neuter unit.

And she was right. The dog and puppy area was bright and clean, with cute dogs and much information on each. They have places to examine them, quarantine areas, and really cool laundry facilities.

Mark, Jean, and Kathy in the dog area. It is bright and very easy to keep clean. Look at those convenient drains!

The staff and volunteers all seemed happy, as did people looking for dogs. We got so many ideas.

Exam room used by veterinary students. New dogs get checked out and the students get good practice.

The cat area was also beautiful. I have trouble seeing precious kittens I can’t help, but I did okay. It helps that I know what a good job Aggieland does with spaying and neutering and owner education programs. We hope to emulate that!

Look all those TNR traps to catch feral kitties and keep them from making more.

They even have their own mobile spay and neuter clinic! They obviously have generous donors (and a different donor base, being in a larger city with a university). Still, we can aim for that, or find good alternatives in partnership with our local veterinarians.

Amazing!

In any case, we learned so much and have a much better idea of what we need and how to get there. One thing is for sure, Milam Touch of Love will need to get more members, more donors, and more generous recurring donations. Our donation page tells you many ways you can help out our sweet animals.

Such beautiful kittens!

We hope all of our friends and readers will join us as we create long-term and short-term goals in accordance with our mission.