St. Croix Animal Friends appoint new board members, make future plans

• St. Croix Animal Friends board of directors

The St. Croix Animal Friends board of directors and the committees they serve on are, front from left, Linda Taliaferro, building committee; Patricia Bruhn, co-chair PR/Marketing; Amber Gabranski, graphic and web design; Secretary Vicki Donatell; Treasurer Denise Carter; and Bookkeeper Nette Jenkins; back, Dave Walker, building committee; Dr. David Datt DVM, building committee; Diana Wedell, building committee; Vice President Tim Kern; President Diana Neubarth; Matt Hall, Chair funding research committee; and Board Member Dan DeMaio. Board of Director members missing from the photograph are Beckie Flattum, dance committee; Alyssa Rohl, co-chair PR/Marketing; Judy Webster, Newsletter/correspondence; and Emily Kennett, funding research. Photo by Margaret A. Ontl

Talk about it

On Jan. 5, St. Croix Animal Friends appointed new members to their board of directors bringing the total to 17. The new board is starting the New Year off with an ambitious agenda: to raise enough money to build a long awaited animal shelter in St. Croix County.

The organization, founded in 2005 by now president Diana Neubarth, purchased six acres of land located near the southeast corner of the interchange between I-94 and Hwy. 65 just south of Roberts in 2010. This moved it another step closer to a long-time goal.

In an interview on Tuesday morning, Neubarth commented, “All I wanted to do was build a shelter. I didn’t know it would be this challenging. It’s been a dream of mine and now it is closer to a reality.”

In 2006, St. Croix Animal Friends established a board of directors and became a non-profit 501(3)(C) organization. In the years since they have been welcoming members and volunteers. They have also started a number of programs to help both area animals and their owners.

Today, SCAF offers three services; a low cost spay/neuter program to qualifying individuals, a foster care program for animals in transition and a reaching out program designed to assist families which may have fallen on hard times with food for their pets.

The group provides a listing service on the website for lost, found and adoptable pets as well as produces a newsletter twice a year.

After purchasing the land, which is debt free, in 2011 the board of directors began planning for the next step: starting a capital campaign to build a suitable facility on the site.

To this end the group has tapped in the expertise of Rob Schultz executive director of the St. Paul Police Foundation and Mo Fahnestock of Authentic Leadership Action, Inc. based in St. Paul.

Both are providing the guidance to SCAF board of directors and committee members as to what steps are needed to make a fully operational shelter a reality.

“Rob Schultz has agreed to stay on for the long haul because he feels we need this shelter and it needs to be built,” said Neubarth. “The standing committees, public-relations, research, building and fund raising are all moving along nicely. Now what we saw as a distant vision is becoming a reality.”

The St. Croix Animal Friends mission is: