SEQUIM — An anonymous cat-lover and longtime member of Peninsula Friends of the Animals has donated $200,000 that will go toward doubling the space that houses the nonprofit organization’s animal welfare shelter.

The staff of US Bank’s downtown Sequim branch, which handles PFOA’s donations, passed the check to the group’s leaders Friday.

It was the largest donation ever handed to the no-kill shelter’s members, which include about 125 volunteers, many who shelter cats at their homes for lack of space.

Peninsula Friends of the Animals was founded in January 2000 and opened the Safe Haven shelter for displaced cats, and some dogs, in January 2004, converting a split-level home into the facility north of U.S. Highway 101, about a quarter-mile east of Shore Road.

Much of the funding to open the original shelter came from Mazie Maloney, the late aunt of former Sequim Gazette newspaper publisher and owner Brown M. Maloney.

“We don’t have enough space, and our original mission was to create a long-term care center,” said Diane Lopez, board president.

Finance expansion

The donation is a great contribution toward helping to finance a 6,240-square-foot expansion of the original 4,000 square feet home on 35 acres, she said.

The space shortage comes from a growing demand to shelter cats.

In many cases, the cats come from homes in which the owners can no longer afford to keep them.

“It’s been a very sad situation,” Lopez said.

About $400,000 has been raised so far toward an expansion project estimated to cost up to $1 million, she said.

“We still need a fundraising campaign,” she said.

The plans for the shelter include a new feline shelter and a spay-neuter facility for the pets of low-income families.

The existing building, as planned, would be converted into a lifetime-care facility for cats.

75 animals

The group now provides care for more than 75 cats and dogs in both the shelter and foster homes, and has adopted out more than 1,600 animals.

The group has provided more than 6,000 spay-neuters to cats and dogs in low-income families.

Since 2000, more than 10,000 people participated in the spay-neuter program, the trap-neuter-return program, adoptions or a pet food bank at the shelter.

A recent drive produced more than 1,000 pounds of donated foods and a cat “Nickel Neuter” program drew 39 cat owners.

National Spay Month comes in February, and the organization will be a part of it, said Janet Harker, treasurer.

“Neutering relieves suffering and euthanasia,” Harker said, adding she is housing 27 cats at her spacious foster home, both inside and outdoors.

Many of the cats housed in the shelter are “adoption shy,” meaning they are old or rejected for their disabilities.

Donations can be made to the PFOA building fund or to the general fund for daily operating expenses at P.O. Box 404, Sequim, WA 98382.

For more information, phone 360-452-0414 or see the web site at safehavenpfoa.org.

________

Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.