Hi, this is Désirée, and I am one of the volunteers at BARL. Thank all of you so much for choosing BARL as your Shelter of choice for your fundraiser. This is so great! I am so excited to tell y'all about BARL! I have a lot to say so get ready to read. This is my first time on your site, so I am not tech savvy on all of y'all's cute little buttons and smilies
First of all, BARL does not receive any federal or state money. All money that BARL receives comes from league fundraising, private donations, grants, and wonderful organizations like you! BARL is a real grass roots group. They are also very smart with their money, and don't believe in wasting a single penny. Here is an example to show that they cherish ever dime. The local seafood restaurant has a gumball machine that is designated for BARL. Each gumball generates one more dime/quarter for BARL (the owners of the restaurant are dedicated members of BARL and pretty much run the organization-This is Beth and her husband Rusty. She wrote the great email that gave y'all an idea of who and what BARL is a while back).
For an update- BARL hosted "Open House" for the new facility last Friday, December 16. It was amazing to be able to walk into a "real" shelter. This has been in the works for so long, and I am still having a hard time realizing that it is finished. How did this happen? BARL was very blessed to have a NASA/Boeing engineer (and his fantastic wife) on hand as one of it's volunteers ! He designed it and brought it to life down to every small detail. He is the one who designed and built the "special" dog houses. BARL provided the funds, and he supplied the "brains." Beth's husband, Rusty, was also integral in this shelter coming to life also. I think he provides the "buisiness" perspective to the mix. The land was also donated by two local buisiness people!
The dogs were amazing! Normally, the dogs bark a lot when anyone comes to see them; however, not during the open house. It was almost like they knew they were on "display". They were so well behaved! I could not believe it when I walked in....people were everywhere and I did not hear a single dog barking. The new facility has definitely made them more "adoptable"! Most of them just stood at the end of their kennels and wagged their tails just waiting for someone to look their way.
As some of you may have heard, BARL has several "lifers". Many of these dogs have been at BARL for 4 and 5 years, and don't have a bright future for being adopted due to their "issues". They are great dogs, but have a hard time with people. They love the "feeders" (the volunteers that do the daily feedings and watering), but they don't really trust anybody else. Special "yards" have been designed for these dogs with extra special dog houses in each one. Each dog house has it's own theme. One is a church, one is a beach house, and one is a mercantile. They are really cute, and each one has been painted by some local community college art students.
3-4 "lifers" are in each "yard" and they have plenty of room to run and play and live their life at BARL. They will always have a "home" at BARL even if they are never adopted.
The indoor dogs have a great living space. Some of them have indoor/outdoor kennels that are connected by a doggie door so they can "sun" when it is nice, and come indoors when it's cold or during bad weather! Prior to this new shelter, the BARL dogs were all in outdoor pens and every rain resulted in a terrible mess of the pens. The animals had to deal with the mud for several days until the groud soaked up all of the rain. It was terrible. The BARL creatures will never have to experience this again!
And boy do I have great news for the BARL cats! Prior to the new shelter, all cats/kittens had to be boarded at local vet offices. BARL only had the outdoor pens for the dogs and no place for cats; however, that has totally changed! The BARL cats are now living the "life". They have an indoor room complete with air conditioning, bunk beds, a lounging chair, and lots of great places to hide (All of which were donated by locals). BARL bought all of the necessities and the community provided the lagniappe (the extras). This room is connected to a screened sun room by a "cat door" (I didn't know they even made "cat doors"). The sun room has a few branches for climbing, shelves for sunning, and lounge chairs for lounging. Of course the cats needed their privacy, so their sun room is separated from the dog runs by a real privacy fence! There is also a special area designated for cats that need to be isolated for various reasons or for kittens.
The shelter also has a real office now! Before, no office even existed. Beth, the president of BARL, ran this organization out of the office of her restaurant! It also has a cat grooming area, dog grooming room, dog food room, storage closets, and cat litter/cat food closet. One of the biggest assets for the new facility is the 3/4 acre exercise yard for the dogs in the indoor/outdoor kennels! They get a chance to run and play in a safe and secure area. Prior to the new shelter, there was no way to let them exercise except to let them out of their pens and hope they came back in a timely manner. They always came back but not always in a timely manner. Now they can play and be safe at the same time.
I am sorry this is so long, but I wanted to give y'all an update on the changes that your site is helping create. I hope that y'all have enjoyed hearing about BARL and I will be posting pictures soon of the new
"Brookhaven Animal Rescue League Adoption Center". They should be updating the website with new pictures soon at www.barl.net Thanks again for all you have done and contact my mom (lsulover) with any questions and she will forward them to me.
Lots of Love,
Désirée, BARL Volunteer
First of all, BARL does not receive any federal or state money. All money that BARL receives comes from league fundraising, private donations, grants, and wonderful organizations like you! BARL is a real grass roots group. They are also very smart with their money, and don't believe in wasting a single penny. Here is an example to show that they cherish ever dime. The local seafood restaurant has a gumball machine that is designated for BARL. Each gumball generates one more dime/quarter for BARL (the owners of the restaurant are dedicated members of BARL and pretty much run the organization-This is Beth and her husband Rusty. She wrote the great email that gave y'all an idea of who and what BARL is a while back).
For an update- BARL hosted "Open House" for the new facility last Friday, December 16. It was amazing to be able to walk into a "real" shelter. This has been in the works for so long, and I am still having a hard time realizing that it is finished. How did this happen? BARL was very blessed to have a NASA/Boeing engineer (and his fantastic wife) on hand as one of it's volunteers ! He designed it and brought it to life down to every small detail. He is the one who designed and built the "special" dog houses. BARL provided the funds, and he supplied the "brains." Beth's husband, Rusty, was also integral in this shelter coming to life also. I think he provides the "buisiness" perspective to the mix. The land was also donated by two local buisiness people!
The dogs were amazing! Normally, the dogs bark a lot when anyone comes to see them; however, not during the open house. It was almost like they knew they were on "display". They were so well behaved! I could not believe it when I walked in....people were everywhere and I did not hear a single dog barking. The new facility has definitely made them more "adoptable"! Most of them just stood at the end of their kennels and wagged their tails just waiting for someone to look their way.
As some of you may have heard, BARL has several "lifers". Many of these dogs have been at BARL for 4 and 5 years, and don't have a bright future for being adopted due to their "issues". They are great dogs, but have a hard time with people. They love the "feeders" (the volunteers that do the daily feedings and watering), but they don't really trust anybody else. Special "yards" have been designed for these dogs with extra special dog houses in each one. Each dog house has it's own theme. One is a church, one is a beach house, and one is a mercantile. They are really cute, and each one has been painted by some local community college art students.
3-4 "lifers" are in each "yard" and they have plenty of room to run and play and live their life at BARL. They will always have a "home" at BARL even if they are never adopted.
The indoor dogs have a great living space. Some of them have indoor/outdoor kennels that are connected by a doggie door so they can "sun" when it is nice, and come indoors when it's cold or during bad weather! Prior to this new shelter, the BARL dogs were all in outdoor pens and every rain resulted in a terrible mess of the pens. The animals had to deal with the mud for several days until the groud soaked up all of the rain. It was terrible. The BARL creatures will never have to experience this again!
And boy do I have great news for the BARL cats! Prior to the new shelter, all cats/kittens had to be boarded at local vet offices. BARL only had the outdoor pens for the dogs and no place for cats; however, that has totally changed! The BARL cats are now living the "life". They have an indoor room complete with air conditioning, bunk beds, a lounging chair, and lots of great places to hide (All of which were donated by locals). BARL bought all of the necessities and the community provided the lagniappe (the extras). This room is connected to a screened sun room by a "cat door" (I didn't know they even made "cat doors"). The sun room has a few branches for climbing, shelves for sunning, and lounge chairs for lounging. Of course the cats needed their privacy, so their sun room is separated from the dog runs by a real privacy fence! There is also a special area designated for cats that need to be isolated for various reasons or for kittens.
The shelter also has a real office now! Before, no office even existed. Beth, the president of BARL, ran this organization out of the office of her restaurant! It also has a cat grooming area, dog grooming room, dog food room, storage closets, and cat litter/cat food closet. One of the biggest assets for the new facility is the 3/4 acre exercise yard for the dogs in the indoor/outdoor kennels! They get a chance to run and play in a safe and secure area. Prior to the new shelter, there was no way to let them exercise except to let them out of their pens and hope they came back in a timely manner. They always came back but not always in a timely manner. Now they can play and be safe at the same time.
I am sorry this is so long, but I wanted to give y'all an update on the changes that your site is helping create. I hope that y'all have enjoyed hearing about BARL and I will be posting pictures soon of the new
"Brookhaven Animal Rescue League Adoption Center". They should be updating the website with new pictures soon at www.barl.net Thanks again for all you have done and contact my mom (lsulover) with any questions and she will forward them to me.
Lots of Love,
Désirée, BARL Volunteer
