It's taken a while, thanks to COVID-19 restrictions, but the Guelph Humane Society is starting to open up the true potential of its new building.
The humane society shifted over to 190 Hanlon Creek Blvd. in March 2021.
But because of the pandemic restrictions, much of its programming had to be put on hold.
"It's really kind of the first winter in a couple (years) that we've been able to have any sort of in-person programming," said Katherine Leonard, the manager of community programs and outreach at the humane society. "We've also just recently opened up for in-person adoption viewing on certain days of the week at certain times.
"It really does feel as though we are now sort of in the home stretch, and we are able to just welcome people in. And because the new shelter is so much larger than the old shelter, we just have more space as well."
How much space? The old building was about 3,000 square feet in size.
The new building is 18,000 square feet, including its community space.
"We've essentially been able to double our registration (for camps)," Leonard said.
"The old space in the old building really didn't accommodate that many children. We've been able to really double the amount of spaces that we have, and double the amount of camp counsellors that we have."
It's not like the building has been totally vacant until now. Spring and fall camps ran according to plan, other programs were able to operate and people were able to come in while keeping socially distant.
But the winter camp running right now is the first of its kind since 2019.
The times the shelter hasn't been able to run full programming allowed it to diversify, and have its large community space used by others.
"We've had a celebration of life in that space, we've had some paint nights, we are going to be having a pet loss support group in the spring," Leonard said. "It's really just given us an opportunity to be a little bit more creative, and expand some of the ways in which we can interact with the community."
The bigger space will also allow the shelter to run its microchip clinic in-house on March 4.
Beforehand, with the lack of space, the clinic would be run off-site or outdoors.
Moving ahead, the shelter is looking to rent out its community space to those who need it.
Anyone wanting to learn more about the programs at the Guelph Humane Society can reach out via email at [email protected]
