Safe Haven of Iowa County Wants Million Dollar Makeover

By Jami Brinton, Reporter

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By Jami Brinton

Story Created: Mar 26, 2009 at 4:27 PM CST

Story Updated: Mar 26, 2009 at 6:44 PM CST

IOWA COUNTY - Of more than three-thousand animal shelters nationwide vying for the make-over, Safe Haven of Iowa County made the first cut.

The shelter is located at 2951 210 Street in Homestead.

It's a leased barn used to take care of more than a hundred homeless pets.

More pets are coming in and the shelter says it just doesn't have what it needs to care for the animals. So, Safe Haven is looking for help.

"The stray population in Iowa County is definitely out of control," said Rinthea Satterlee, found of Safe Haven of Iowa County.

Satterlee wants to care for every homeless pet, but it's a bit overwhelming.

This barn turned into a make-shift animal shelter currently houses 115 cats and 14 dogs.

"We have running water, but we don't have working drains," said Satterlee.

Which means making sure the animals are clean and their sewage is properly drained isn't easy.

One of Safe Haven's biggest needs is a bathroom. They don't have one here. So when nature calls, staff and volunteers drive two miles to use a restroom at a local gas station.

Safe Haven knows they need more space equipped with all the amenities needed to care for the animals.

Hope for that change came in an email Satterlee got six months ago.

"I normally would hit delete but for some reason I actually opened the email this time because it said a million dollars," explained Satterlee.

The pet lover company called ZooToo was offering one shelter a million dollar makeover.

"We're located in a barn, in the country, in Iowa," said Kimberly Buresh, board member and volunteer. "I wasn't overly optimistic at the beginning."

But with hard work they got the votes they needed to make the top 20.

"It's kinda like Facebook for pet lovers," explains Buresh.

It's called ZooToo, a web site where hundreds of Americans voted for this Iowa County animal shelter to advance in a million dollar contest.

ZooToo's founder will now decide which shelters advance to the top 10.

"I'm pretty confident when they were out here they saw our need," said Buresh.

"Either way we've won," said Satterlee. " We've already won 5-thousand dollars but it would be really great to win a little more than that."

You may remember, Dubuque Humane Society also entered the contest, but didn't make the first cut.

Safe Haven finds out whether they advance further on April 7th. They're holding a fundraiser at Texas Roadhouse on Sunday, March 29 from 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. to raise money to make the trip to Las Vegas to hear the announcement. Safe Haven will receive 10 percent from all food purchases.

Once the shelters have been narrowed to ten, America will vote again on ZooToo to determine which shelter wins the million dollar makeover.

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