Steinbach and Area Animal Rescue holds grand opening

When the Steinbach and Area Animal Rescue Inc. opened its doors at the end of June, it was a dream come true for president Michelle Neufeld. On Thursday, that dream was celebrated with the community as the organization held a grand opening.

“I feel overwhelmed and very emotional. It’s surreal to be at this moment for the ribbon cutting and everything. It’s been quite a journey,” said Neufeld, who spent 13 years trying to make a brick and mortar building happen for SAAR.

She said it was a community effort that made the building possible.

“From our volunteers to our people who sponsor us, people who donate, who share our posts on Instagram and Facebook – it’s everybody. Everybody is involved in this not just the board members. It’s everybody in our community that supports us, comes to our events, buys our merchandise, it goes on and on.”

One of the supporters of SAAR is Funk’s Toyota which paid for the majority of a spay and neuter clinic that was held over three days where 60 animals were operated on.

“We’re thankful to them. We want to continue to do spay and neuter clinics we just need more businesses to step up and help us sponsor them. It’s very much needed in this community.”

Mayor Earl Funk said he’s known about Neufeld’s dream of opening the facility almost as long as he’s been on council and how the organization never lost sight of its goal and how it kept pushing, kept knocking on politicians’ office doors and community members’ doors.

“This has been a forever dream…I feel like I’m a part of history,” he said.

The 1,600 sq-ft building has a full basement for storage and a boardroom. There are three main cat rooms with an enriched environment, staff room, reception area with merchandise, laundry room/grooming room, and quarantine room.

Visitors were treated with a tour of the facility and a barbecue lunch afterwards.