BILLINGS — Dozens of volunteers gathered Saturday morning to help the Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter move into a new building, marking a fresh start for the organization after months of operating out of a temporary space.
Watch how the Billings community came together:
An estimated 70 people showed up throughout the morning with trailers, trucks, and manpower to move supplies, food, kennels, and animals from the shelter’s temporary location at Lionheart Cannabis to a rented building at 5056 Jellison Road in south Billings.
It's what brought people like Pam Kaiser out to help.
“When we pulled into the parking lot where they were located, there was horse trailers, utility trailers, U-Haul trucks, flatbed trailers," said Kaiser. "Parking lot was full of people, so Billings really came out today.”
The shelter had put out a call on social media for volunteer help, but did not expect such a large turnout. Everything was cleared from the temporary location in under an hour.
“I figured they would have a turnout, but I didn't expect this kind of turnout," said Kaiser. “A group of people that don't even know each other just got together and got it done. It was great.”
The move comes after a challenging few months for the shelter, which was forced to leave its longtime location on Monad in September following a drug incinerator incident. Shelter leaders ultimately decided not to return to the location due to safety concerns.
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Since then, the shelter has been operating at a reduced capacity out of the warehouse space, limiting the number of animals it could take in and separating staff and veterinary services across different locations.
“I know the community has been turning out a lot since the big incident that shut down the old shelter," said volunteer Alice Bouslaugh. "I did kinda expect to see a lot of people, but I was still really surprised with the whole crowd that was following us in.”
Bouslaugh said the incident motivated her to become more involved with the shelter, including adopting a dog last month.
"They've been super friendly through the whole adoption process, and I just want to give back in any way I can," she said.
For the shelter's executive director, Triniti Halverson, the move brought relief and hope.
“I am just so excited to get back to doing the high-quality care that we normally provide," said Halverson. “This has just kind of been our endeavor to try to find something that works really well for us.”
The shelter had been operating in about 3,000 square feet for the past four months. The new rented building offers nearly 9,000 square feet, allowing staff, animals, and veterinary services to be housed under one roof.
"We've been operating in about 3,000 for the last four months, so this is a really big upgrade compared to that,” said Halverson.
The new rented space will allow the shelter to offer full veterinary care on-site, increase animal intake, and resume owner surrenders, which was a service that had been paused while the shelter operated at reduced capacity.
“We've had our medical location across town, and so it takes a lot of effort and energy to transport animals back and forth," said Halverson. "We're going to have the animals in one space, the cats and the dogs further away from each other, which decreases their stress.”
The shelter has signed a new six-month contract with the city and will continue offering shelter services for Billings. Halverson said the building is still a temporary solution as the shelter continues fundraising efforts for a permanent, state-of-the-art facility planned for Billings’ south side in the coming years.
Obviously, this whole mishap has put us behind in our entire campaign," she said. 'Moving a couple of times and having to raise funds for this destruction instead of the campaign has put us behind.”
Despite the setbacks, Halverson said the support from the community has been overwhelming and they are grateful for it.
The volunteers on Saturday eased much of the stress of moving and put the shelter on a path to a brighter future.
"The turnout from Billings with this whole situation has been amazing. I've never been more proud to be part of this community," said Bouslaugh. "The sense of community we've got is incredible.”
