Mike Wolanin | The Republic Mark Elwood addresses guests during a capital campaign kick off event to raise money for a new Columbus Animal Care Services building at Bespoke Events and Experiences in Columbus, Ind., Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. Elwood is the campaign chair.
Animal Care Services officially launched its capital campaign to raise funds for a new city animal shelter Tuesday night with a reception at Bespoke Events & Experiences.
This new facility would be located directly across the street from the current one at 2730 Arnold St.
According to Animal Care Services Director Nichol Birdwell Goodin, the current facility was built in 1987, with a planned expansion to occur 10 years later, and was designed to hold 22 dogs and 19 cats. However, that expansion never occurred, and the facility now is routinely sheltering more than 40 dogs and 50 cats in the shelter.
Goodin said staff has worked hard over the years to increase its save rate, but the facility is beyond capacity because of this. Many times, animals are being sent to other rescues and shelters or to foster homes due to lack of room. The current facility also faces issues with faulty drains, inadequate ventilation and equipment failure.
“Things have changed in animal welfare since this was built, so what was appropriate back then and actually, strangely enough, state-of-the-art back then, is no longer,” Goodin said. “There’s just more requirements for air flow and kennel sizes and things like that to help prevent diseases.”
This new facility would go from 4,900 square feet to a little over 21,000 square feet in size, Goodin said. The new facility would have an increased capacity of 60 dogs and 80 cats. The new facility would include HVAC designed for disease prevention, odor control and air quality, as well as separate rooms for different needs like intake, medical treatment and quarantine.
It would also create a safer work environment for staff and volunteers, with increased storage space for supplies and adequate desks and meeting spaces for staff and volunteers. Mayor Mary Ferdon, who shared remarks on the campaign Tuesday night, said that the current facility does not provide a safe and sanitary work environment, and they are long overdue in creating a new space.
“Quite frankly, the current space is in dire straits,” she said, adding that temporary fixes have been made over the past few years and we’ve had to “band-aid over the past years just to keep the animals safely housed… the work environment for employees is tough,” Ferdon said Tuesday night. “Overcrowding, heating and cooling issues, inefficiency and an unhealthy environment, and every year the cost of repair and upkeep continues to increase…”
Other additions would include an inviting facility and lobby with space for meet and greets, private adoption counseling areas, a retail store and enhanced facilities for Animal Control Services, according to a flyer given out on Tuesday night. Goodin said the timeline is not set in stone, but they hope to break ground sometime in the first or second quarter of next year.
As announced Tuesday night by Ferdon, the new shelter would be named the Wendy H. Elwood Animal Care Services Center. Ferdon said Elwood has spent several years supporting animal care in the county, caring for animals and raising funds for food and medical needs.
“I’m so excited, I just found out (the name) today,” Elwood said Tuesday night.
Elwood, who is a former said she has seen firsthand the issues the current facility faces. She said there is a big need for a new facility, as they are just too crowded in their current one.
“I think (the new facility will) be a resource center for people to come and learn about animal care and adopt, of course, and just a place where they can go and know that they can get answers or help,” she said. “If they need food or supplies, we have a food pantry and so there’s a lot of support for our community through the animal shelter.”
Both Wendy and Mark Elwood have been advocating for a new animal shelter for years, Ferdon said. They have made a $1 million pledge in support of this new facility, and Mark Elwood urged the community to match their pledge for a total of $2 million. He said the timeline is to get pledges before the end of the year and to collect money at the end of next year at the latest.
“We will give our gift no matter what anybody else does, but maybe this could be a reverse match,” Mark Elwood told the crowd.
Naming opportunities are available, and social media campaigns and mailings will be held in the future, Mark Elwood said. Some of the funds from the CATalina Wine Mixer event, to be held on Sept. 12, will go towards the new shelter as well.
“Pets are important,” Mark Elwood said Tuesday night. “For most of us, they’re part of our family, for some of us, they are our family, and I don’t think I have to tell anybody how important pets are to what we do…. If you’ve been to the shelter that we have here, it’s woefully inadequate. It was possibly inadequate in 1987, but I know it’s not today. So this is overdue, we’re excited…”
To donate to the campaign or view , visit friendsofcacs.org.
