Since Danbury Animal Welfare Society (DAWS) was founded in 1974, the organization has helped save the lives of more than 30,000 animals. On March 1, DAWS celebrated its shelter renovations with a groundbreaking ceremony and kicked off the next chapter in the group’s nearly 50-year legacy.

According to Alice Meenan, Development and Marketing Director at DAWS, the nonprofit organization’s mission has always been to improve the lives of animals in the community and beyond, and this much-needed renovation project will ensure they can do just that for many years to come.

DAWS started out in Danbury, where it received its name, and moved to its home at 147 Grassy Plain Street in Bethel around 1993. Thanks to a private foundation awarding funds to DAWS, the organization was able to purchase the property.

The building has been well loved throughout its nearly 30 years of use. It has been a vessel for getting cats and dogs adopted, volunteers trained, and had a low-cost pet clinic on site. Meenan said that she joined the staff of DAWS in the summer of 2020, during the pandemic, and went straight to work helping with the large undertaking of a renovation of this scale.

“I came on board to assist with their fundraising efforts and more importantly develop the capital project to get this renovation project going,” she said.

Fundraising

DAWS team members have been discussing the idea of renovating the building for more than a decade, but it was never the right time financially.

Since DAWS is not a municipal-owned facility, they operate thanks to the generosity of their supporters, who donate funds and supplies to keep them running. As a result, DAWS hosts its annual gala in September and participates in a variety of local events to engage with the community and raise money.

After years of fundraising and having a capital campaign, the original plan was to start with one specific area and prioritize what needed the most updates: the dog kennels. However, they were able to modify those plans after a generous gift was given to DAWS in 2021.

“We received a large donation, where we are able to say, ‘Instead of just doing the kennels first it would make sense to do everything all at once.’ It would be more efficient,” Meenan said.

Over the years, DAWS has been working with Tary Tarlton of Kenosia Construction LLC and his wife, Lynne Persan, who is an architect. They have experience working with shelters and did the ROAR renovation in Ridgefield.

“The two of them together have been talking about this for a very long time. As our needs change and as our building needed more modification, they willingly went back to the drawing board to make improvements to the plan,” Meenan explained. “Especially when we received the large gift and said, ‘Now, we can do it all at once.’ We revised the plans once again.”

Tarlton and Persan have donated their time and resources for the planning and bidding process.

“Tary is really overseeing the project and being on-site for the actual construction. He has some costs with his labor, workers, equipment, and supplies, so the funds will go towards that,” Meenan shared.

Renovations

In 2020 alone, DAWS did more than 1,200 pet adoptions. Working at that rate has come with much wear and tear on the building.

“It served its purpose without a doubt,” Meenan said. The renovations will bring state of the art improvements to places that already existed within the building, as well as creating new spaces.

One of the newest features will be what DAWS is calling its “Puppy Preschool.” It will be an area specifically for the puppies that are old enough to be out of the foster program, where they can be separated from the adult dogs in the kennel.

“We will also have a special area in the front of the building that will be a foster area … that will be designated for our puppy and kitten foster coordinator to do meet-and-greets with potential adopters. It will really be a specific area just for facilitating fosters,” Meenan said.

Previously, those interactions were done in DAWS’ Community Room on the second level of the building. The Community Room will receive updates to better facilitate volunteer trainings and there will be more office space upstairs.

Over in the cat area of the building, there will continue to be two rooms and a “catio” of fenced in outdoor space, but it will be modernized. “A new feature that we will have is the cat greeting rooms,” Meenan said.

The space will allow for potential adopters to have one-on-one time with the cats of their choice to get to know them and see if it is a good fit. On the other side of the facility is the dog area, which will see some of the most dramatic makeovers.

“The kennel is one of the most exciting parts of the renovation, because it is going to be completely knocked down to the ground and built brand new, whereas the front of the shelter is having improvements and full gutting,” Meenan said.

The former layout had the dog kennels directly facing each other, but the reconstruction will have a space in the middle for supply and pantry necessities that the staff can access easily.

“We will have more natural light coming in, better temperature control, new HVAC system,” she said. “We also will have, I believe the correct term is ‘radiant heating,’ so the floors will be warm, when necessary, because we get brutally cold winters here.”

Meenan said that DAWS estimates the project will take 15 months to complete and that they plan for it to be completed in the summer of 2023. After the animals are brought back into the facility, DAWS will have a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the project’s completion.

Coming To Newtown

In preparation for the renovations, the team at DAWS worked around-the-clock to ensure all the animals that they were currently housing had a place to go. Some animals went to their forever homes, some went into foster, and others came to Newtown for their temporary stay.

Meenan said that thanks to DAWS resident veterinarian Dr Carey Brenner’s relationship with veterinarian Dr Rakesh Vali — who owns Mt Pleasant Hospital for Animals, at 119 Mt Pleasant Road, and the new Pleasant Paws Pet Center, at 94 South Main Street — their animals and staff have relocated to Newtown while the renovations are taking place.

“Dr Vali has been wonderful … Dr Vali offered space at Pleasant Paws to continue our low-cost clinic services, so we have Dr Brenner and our clinic team based out of Pleasant Paws,” Meenan said.

DAWS can continue their veterinary services four days a week for the dogs and cats in their care, as well as for people’s pets in the community. DAWS is continuing to get an intake of dogs and cats that are transported in from the south, so those animals also receive the necessary medical attention they need.

DAWS is also able to house some dogs and cats that were not adopted out or fostered — this includes dog Zorro, who was featured in The Newtown Bee earlier this year and is still looking for his forever home.

Meenan said, “Thanks to Dr Vali’s generosity, it has allowed DAWS to be present in the community and continue to carry out our lifesaving mission of improving the lives of animals. Our gratitude to Dr Vali, his team, and the Newtown community for helping us.”

The renovation project at DAWS may be underway, but Meenan said that DAWS continues to be in need of support.

“We are still fundraising. We are not done … we definitely need to continue to raise funds, not only for the project, but to make sure we can maintain this facility for another 50 years and then some,” Meenan said.

She shared that DAWS is currently offering “naming opportunities,” which can be used to pay tribute to a pet or loved one or highlight a business or person. There are a variety of options at different price points, ranging from a small tribute brick for $100 up to having a dog or cat greeting room named for $15,000.

“We are a nonprofit, so it is really a community effort that keeps the mission going at DAWS,” Meenan said.

DAWS representatives and adoptable animals will be in Newtown at the 11th Annual Strutt Your Mutt on Saturday, May 14, from 11 am to 2 pm, at Fairfield Hills Campus. They will also be at the Catherine Violet Hubbard Foundation’s Butterfly Party on Saturday, June 11, from noon to 4 pm.

To learn more about DAWS and its building renovation, visit daws.org or contact Meenan at development@DAWS.org and 203-794-4223.

Reporter Alissa Silber can be reached at alissa@thebee.com.