As 2024 draws to a close, animal advocated in Denison are looking back at a decade of work in ensuring the city’s four-legged residents have a home. The Denison Animal Welfare Group recently celebrated its 10th anniversary of rescuing and adopting out the stray and lost animals of Denison.
From its origins as a volunteer effort focused on fostering, the organization has grown over the years and provided forever homes for thousands of animals. In recent years, the organization has hired staff and taken over animal shelter services for the city and is currently looking to build a dedicated shelter and adoption center.
“As we reflect on our 10th anniversary and the remarkable accomplishments of 2024, I am reminded of how far we’ve come and the lives we have touched together,” DAWG President Stephanie Phillips recently posted on Facebook.
Despite a decade passing, Phillips said it doesn’t feel like it has been very long at all. She is still reminded regularly of the early fundraisers and other events that shaped the organization into what it is today.
“It really doesn’t (feel that long ago),” she said. “It pops up on my memories all the time on Facebook, that very first year we started rescuing, and it seems crazy that it has already been 10 years and thousands and thousands of animals have come through our doors.”
DAWG started in 2014 following concerns that were raised about the Denison pound, which was operated within the Morton Street Animal Hospital at the time. The pound had a high euthanasia rate and many of the animals were not adopted out, Phillips said.
“The animals at the pound didn’t have any exposure,” Phillips said. “No one posted that the animals were there. There was little awareness of where the pound even was, so if people lost their pet, they didn’t really know where to look. So, consequently, 90 percent of animals that came in were euthanized just by the statistics the city provided us.”
Phillips said her cousin helped organize a meeting of concerned citizens and asked if she would be involved. This led to the creation of the DAWG board of directors. Many of those who helped start the organization are still a part of it years later.
“I have a good 10 to 15 volunteers that have been there,” she said. “I was just talking to one at the shelter, and she’s been there for 10 years, my vice president, my cat director. Lots of people have come every day for 10 years.”
The organization held its first major adoption event over the summer of 2014 with a community gathering and cookout. At the time, the group did not have a dedicated facility and instead operated primarily through foster families for animals that were taken out of the pound.
“We were given permission to have an adoption event there,” Phillips said. “I think we had something like 14 animals adopted that day.”
“I feel everybody had wanted to see something different happen for the animals of Denison and they really supported it when we started doing something,” she continued.
The organization quickly worked to finalize the steps needed to register as a non-profit. Another major early investment was the mobile adoption center, which cost about $35,000 at the time.
Spring of 2015 proved to be a turning point for the organization following historic rainfall throughout the spring that ultimately led to the pound flooding on Father’s Day.
“The citizens who happened to be in the area kind of jumped into action and went into the pound,” Phillips said. “The animals were neck deep in water in their kennels, and they (volunteers) started bringing them out in totes.”
What could have been a tragedy was averted as all the animals were able to be rescued. The entire event also had a silver lining in that it led to the organization finding a permanent home for its operations.
Up until that point, the group had utilized the former south-side fire station to house its mobile adoption unit. However, the city agreed to allow DAWG to relocate the animals to the station following the flood. The group still uses the building has its headquarters to this day.
“It was a turning point,” Phillips said. “The city had to kind of take a leap of faith, and we were fairly new, a new organization. There are a lot of variables with animal care and control.”
Since then, the organization has continued to grow and refined its practices. The group has worked to find low-cost options for its spay and neuter services. This culminated in the group receiving a grant for spay and neuter services for cats and later dogs through MuttNation and Miranda Lambert.
The organization also expanded its adoption efforts by transporting animals to low-population shelters in states like Minnesota. While the group originally did this through regular road trips, later partnerships allowed for air transport in recent years.
More recently, the group was successful in its bid to provide animal sheltering services for the city in 2023. Phillips said this was the first time the contract had been bid out since 1993.
As a part of this expansion, the former station was received renovations and DAWG invested in a dedicate staff, which allowed volunteers to transition into other roles.
“We want to thank the public for being so generous in helping us continue to save these animals,” Phillips said. “Our greatest need is always donations. Veterinary care if still very expensive even though e try to source it from less expesive veterinarians. It is still very expensive and we want to be able to give the animals the care they deserve.”
