Animal Shelter to launch ‘Operation Donation Station’

By Ben Olson
Reader Staff

Panhandle Animal Shelter has announced they are building a new donation and sorting facility just west of their current thrift store location.

The 4,500-square-foot facility will feature a parking lot and streamlined drop-off donation area with an overhang to protect donors and donations from finicky North Idaho weather. The donation station will be placed alongside a new dog park slated for later this year.

PAS has secured a construction loan, permits and a builder, and has raised $150,000 of the total $270,000 needed to complete the project. 

In order to fund the remaining $120,000, PAS launched a Donation Station Fund Drive on Wednesday, July 11.

“Opening the Donation Station 100-percent debt-free would be an amazing gift to our community animals,” said Mandy Evans, executive director of PAS.

Evans said it takes a significant amount of money just to keep the doors at PAS open. 

“Most people do not know that the majority of our funding comes from our exceptional Thrift Store, a staggering 84 percent of our operating revenue is directly attributed to sales at the store,” Evans said.

“The money saved on rent alone could vaccinate almost 10,000 animals, alter over 2,000, or provide 1,200 40-pound bags of high-quality food annually,” Evans said. “The impact would be tremendous.”

Persons wanting to donate to Operation Donation Station can visit the Panhandle Animal Shelter or the PAS Thrift Store during business hours. They have also set up a fund at www.mightycause.com/organization/Friends-Of-The-Shelter-9.