Where has all the SOS money gone, and what’s left?

– On September 9th, we spayed and neutered 16 bunnies that were high-risk for cancer, spraying excessively or waiting to be adopted. We performed those surgeries in our NEWLY COMPLETED MEDICAL ROOM.

-By September 4th, The medical room had the sub-floor installed, with water-proof, “impervious to moisture” flooring installed above as required by the department of health. We installed drywall, and painted the room, and purchased a new-in-the-box (but second hand, and therefor very inexpensive) surgical table. This was one of the most expensive construction projects because the entire floor needed to be built up to level before we could install “impervious” flooring.

-We rented oxygen for use for all future surgeries at the rescue.

-We completed the clean-out of all three storage sheds on the LMRR property and moved 44 bales of hay onto our property for consumption!

-Hampton had surgery, which was necessary to amputate his rear leg. Unfortunately, the cancer that caused Hampton’s broken femur had already taken such a toll on his body that the rescue had to say farewell to our beautiful spokesbunny. Many donors chipped in specifically to assist with Hampton’s surgery which cost $1053, in addition to the over $600 in bills prior to his surgery. We thank everyone who supported us during his surgery and after-care. We all miss him dearly.

-We paid off over $200 of our bill from past x-rays and surgeries with Evesham Veterinary, preventing us from paying any interest on the bill there.

-We paid of $1216 of the shelter’s electric bills from June and July – the air conditioning was repaired twice, and the entire unit serving one side of the kennel was replaced also!

-We purchased contractor bags and three months worth of sterilizing and cleaning products from Home Depot, as well as other cleaning products from Walmart and Target, such as replacement mop heads, two new mops and two new brooms which needed replacing.

-We paid $4050 in rent since we started the “Save Our Shelter” campaign, which thanks to the SOS donations, most of our adoption fees, boarding fees, etc were able to go towards our rent with only some assistance from the SOS fund!

-We replaced the mini-fridge that wasn’t working, and threw out the old one.

-We properly vented the washer/dryer unit so that we could continue doing laundry at the building.

-We applied for building permits which required professional SIGNED, SEALED drawings from an architect (that alone is a $3,000+ cost!) and then got approved for the building permits including an electrician, plumber and construction – each of which had to be paid to come out, draw professional plans for the construction to occur. The actual cost of the permits (NOT including hiring all the certified, insured & bonded professionals – all needed because we’re in a commercial building and CAN NOT do any of that work ourselves) – the permits were $216.

-We purchased a laser printer for the rescue, and in ONE round of new copies needed for adoptions, surrenders, boarding, etc- by spending $250 on the printer and toner – we already saved over $300 from just making copies and paying full price! YAY for clearance printer find!!

-We spent $260 at Petsmart on speciality products needed for all the small animals, including ferret food, rat, hamster and small animal feed, timothy pellets for the rabbits who require them, alfalfa hay and other products for the animals who have special food requirements, and carefresh litter while it was on sale.

-We replaced nearly ALL of the shelter’s litter pans which were in disrepair and were becoming extremely hard to fully clean, in addition to being badly chewed. We purchased back-up pans and installed hooks on all the condos that the rabbits poo / pee on the shelves so they could permanently have small litter pans to prevent staining of the shelves.

-We repainted all of the shelves and the entire floor of both kennels with epoxy-resin painting, making ALL surfaces moisture impervious to comply with health department demands. They were checked and found to be compliant.

-We replaced many of the expensive light bulbs that are in the fixtures that came with the building – we priced out replacing them which was far, far more expensive. We now have very few bulbs that do not work making it much easier to see all parts of the rescue all the time. We installed timers on all rooms so that the electric bill is not affected by lighting that is not being used at night when no one is in the building.

-We replaced the panel that controls our door-lock system. Our electronic lock panel was damaged by a storm over the summer. Our current system makes it easy to give volunteers access – or restrict access from a mobile device. Those who run the shelter can now shut off a key if a volunteer leaves or loses their key. We are working to employ the same system to prevent access to restricted areas, such as medication, offices, etc throughout the rescue.

-We created and documented an entire medication log with the help of our veterinarian who has made four visits to the rescue since August 1st. We ordered and replaced needed medications, and kept a new log, which also complies with the health departments demands. We also purchased a text-book for reference by both the staff and our outstanding veterinarian.

-We replaced 1/2 the water bottles in the shelter that have, over time, become damaged and leaked. We bought over 40 new bottles.

-We purchased 3 months worth of feed, and a pallet full of litter, in addition to fly-prevention supplies and mosquito control for the shelter’s yard.

-We purchased 5 ton of river rock, and 2 ton of sand for completion of the back yard runs and have 70% completion of the outdoor exercise areas, which will also be compliant with the health department when complete.
This was another one of the more expensive projects – when complete, this will include 388 square foot of interactive running/exercise space where 25 rabbits at a time can exercise in fully enclosed, fully protected runs while being supervised by volunteers. The runs include lots of places to run, jump, climb, dig – and will have floors “impervious to moisture” and able to be bleached and sanitized – newly compliant with the health department’s complaints that “natural” flooring on animal shelter runs is “not allowed” (Which is still an argument because every animal shelter we’ve ever seen has grass in the runs for the dogs- but we’re being told we’re not allowed to have sand/dirt/plants/grass for the rabbits to run on!

– Flea prevention and control was purchased for all rabbits to be treated as they are done quarterly for preventative measures. NO FLEAS HAVE BEEN FOUND IN OUR SHELTER ALL SUMMER – an outstanding record considering that this was a particularly bad flea season in NJ.

-The shelter paid for three months of cable for the building (we have the minimal package, which includes basic cable, but more importantly, internet and phone. As we’ve been asked before, having the triple package for businesses, it’s cheaper to HAVE the basic cable tv than NOT to have it. Total cost for three months – $256.

-We purchased enough choroplast and 16 boxes of neat ideas grids for completing 16/32 guinea pig condos which are used for housing all the shelter’s guinea pigs -including covering the pallets that raise them off the floor making everything easier to clean and sanitize.

-During the above time… we paid for FOUR pizzas for volunteers.. a whopping $36. We also bought four cases of water, three 12-packs of sodas (which the volunteers pay for themselves, reimbursing the rescue at $.50per soda) and had one ice-cream party (Cost, $26) for a group of 12 teens who came and worked 16 hours on a massive cleaning project. We also bought twelve boxes of benedryl, three boxes of band-aids, one of neosporin and one bottle of advil for $21 – all items used by the volunteers. Oh, and two cases of toilet paper.

-We’ve purchased 3 large cases of papertowels, because not enough were donated to use for normal rescue uses.

-We paid a gas bill for six months, paid totally off for the building, so now we only owe very small bills for the hot water for August and September -around $70.

-We paid all our sewer and water bills for over $300 to the landlord.

-We had our gas / hot water line repaired, which stopped working causing us to have to heat water in our microwave for cleaning for NINE days in the end of July – a major crisis which our volunteers took in stride, doing an excellent job.

-We’ve compiled a case for a civil attorney in regards to the harassment against the rescue, including now, cease and desist order for several individuals taking an active roll in the harassment of our shelter and shelter staff.

We’ve found homes for over 85 animals since July1st, including bringing our “current count” down from over 130 to 103 rabbits, and our small animal number down from around 60, to just around 30!

What’s going on now:

– We found a commercial dish washer, however we have not yet been able to pick it up – we need $500 to complete the purchase.

-We need to complete the new condos, replacing the entire current housing for the rabbits.- a project that will cost several thousand dollars and be the most expensive of the projects to complete.

-September & November, December rent – October’s will be paid by a donor at the end of October. Another $4050 before the end of the year.

-Completion of the back yard will cost about $500-$1000 before the outdoor runs are able to be utilized by the rabbits.

-We’re going to order the LMRR sweatshirts and the SOS shirts to be sent out to the donors, at a cost of about $1000 – believe it or not!

-We still need $1000 to cover the remaining cost of the retainer for our attorney.

-We still need to invest $800 in the upgraded security features for the building.

The remaining total needed to COMPLETE all the necessary changes is: $7300 – however, the URGENT need is for $2550, to pay off the lease and the electric bill before Monday at 1pm.