I am proud and honoured to chair the campaign for the new home of the North Nova SPCA. It takes a team of dedicated community members who share the passion to build this new facility for our animal friends.
The new North Nova SPCA is more than a building; it will offer emergency pet sheltering, palliative care, and great programming for families.
Currently animals with extensive medical needs are transferred to the Dartmouth SPCA for in-house veterinary services. However, the North Nova facility will include a veterinary hospital, keeping many animals local.
The new location in Stellarton will serve a large area in northeastern Nova Scotia, and will bring employment, volunteer and educational opportunities. I graciously look forward to your support for the “paws”itive changes the North Nova SPCA will make in our communities.
Sincerely,
Marsha Sobey, Campaign Chair, North Nova SPCA
In our new space we will BE THERE FOR LOCAL families
How?
- Pet care and ownership will be accessible to those in need of emotional, physical, and mental health benefits that come from animal companions, through programs and services that work with families to care for their pets.
- Emergency pet sheltering for owners seeking short-term in-hospital treatment, transitioning out of domestic violence, or experiencing temporary homelessness.
- Local re-homing options for pets whose families can no longer care for them.
BEFORE
The North Nova SPCA will help create families, like Biscuit and Jessica’s. Biscuit was thin, matted, had cataracts, and heart problems when he was rescued near Westville.
After being diagnosed with a severe heart murmur, Biscuit was placed in the SPCA Palliative Care program. While the term palliative care is often associated with dying, the SPCA’s program is about living. Days at the beach and long car rides are Biscuit’s new favourite activities.
Biscuit is happy with his new foster mom Jessica, feeling love and happiness. Because palliative pets like Biscuit need ongoing medical care, they need to live with foster families near an SPCA medical facility. Currently, local palliative pets need to be relocated. The new North Nova SPCA will be able to offer treatment, which means palliative care will be possible, and pets like Biscuit will find a foster family to love them sooner.
AFTER
We have just over $1M left to raise to complete the shelter, medical, retail, and programming space.
Through the generosity of donors and a gift of land from the Town of Stellarton, the SPCA will be in the business of saving lives and creating families for generations to come.
Donate NowSHARON & ELMER MACKAY Building
FLOOR PLAN
The North Nova SPCA will create a safe place for local homeless pets
With:
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A modern facility with a veterinary hospital to treat sick and injured animals immediately.
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Increased shelter space for animals to be cared for and adopted locally.
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Design for shelter pets will be animal centric, providing them with the best opportunity for recovery and rehabilitation.
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Isolation rooms available for sick animals to decrease disease transmission.
In Pictou County, when 45 kittens and cats were rescued from a home, they needed to be transported to the Colchester and Dartmouth facilities for urgent medical care. Because of their living conditions, many cats suffered from painful eye damage and severe infections. Some needed emergency surgery to survive.
With no medical clinic at the Pictou shelter, transport out of North Nova was their only hope. Others had a severe and contagious upper respiratory disease and could not go to the current local SPCA because it lacks dedicated isolation space.
Proudly a no-kill shelter, the Nova Scotia SPCA finds solutions to ensure every animal is safe and healthy. With your gift, a modern shelter with medical support will be built locally, saving the lives of pets in North Nova.
When the team from Summer Street comes to the SPCA, we know we are a part of something important. Our friends from Summer Street have been working with the SPCA since the early days of the shelter. Community partnerships are important to us, but the inaccessibility of our current building means some cannot participate.
With your help, the North Nova SPCA will be built to be accessible. From the front entrance to the bathrooms, hallways, to outside green space, there will be no barriers to being able to work, volunteer, or adopt. The North Nova SPCA is everyone’s SPCA.
We’ve been in the area since 1979, and with your help, We’re Here for Good
The new North Nova SPCA will be built with, by, and for the community. Supporting local by:
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Creating more jobs and volunteer opportunities.
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Supporting new and existing partnerships with local rescues and organizations.
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Community donations maximized by having medical care and programs in-house.
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Environmentally friendly and sustainable revenue through a Thrift Store social enterprise.
Be a part of Building a Better Future for pets, families and the community of North Nova
Donate today.
You can make sure that every animal has the love and care it needs, while creating local opportunities in our community. Talk to the SPCA today about how your gift will be an investment in animal welfare in North Nova.
Inspire others.
This project is a community project, and we want everyone to know! Tell your friends and family, share the stories, and plans inside this booklet, tell them why you are supporting a new North Nova SPCA.
Be a Community Champion.
Share on social media because animals in the community need local medical care, and programs. Post about your support for building a better future for pets, families, and the community.
Donor Tails
It was another beautiful day in Northern Nova Scotia when supporters gathered at the North Nova SPCA. It was a special day; the building was going to be “unleashed.” “Unleashing” the building is the Nova Scotia SPCA twist on a ribbon-cutting! The building is not ready to open to the public just yet – this was a day to celebrate and signal that the SPCA can start moving in…
Read MoreSitting in the kitchen of the Centre for Music on Summit, Marsha Sobey admits that she has many passions, two of which are music and animals.
Marsha’s mother Norma was an animal lover and the Nova Scotia SPCA Pictou shelter was one of her charities of choice. She instilled in her children that love of animals and supporting the community…
Read MoreTerry Steeves was quite literally born an animal lover. “When my parents brought me home from the hospital, we lived on a farm, and a cat gave birth to kittens in my crib!” she laughs.
So, when she heard that Northern Nova Scotia would be getting a new SPCA, Terry would dive in with both feet…
Read MoreWhat are the things you pass down in your family? Typically, families might have their grandmother’s recipe for a favorite dish. Or a piece of jewelry, or another heirloom to treasure.
In North Nova, there is a family who intergenerationally has passed down a passion and a calling to give back…
Read MoreGrowing up in the same neighbourhood as the SPCA in Abercrombie, Vince was always visiting and offering his help.
At first, it started with bottle drives. Now, he organizes an annual golf tournament in memory of a beloved friend and is playing a pivotal role in helping the community get a new shelter…
Read MoreFor over five decades Marlene Miller has had a Toronto address, but home? Well, home is where her family is and that is Pictou County.
That is not to say that she hasn’t built up a web of family and friends in the big city. When she was called for an interview, she had just returned from feeding a friend’s cat…
Read MoreThey had only gone to look at a truck. Instead of talking about spark plugs, the conversation lit a spark: how can North Nova get a new SPCA?
After a truck caught their eye, Sharon and Elmer MacKay met Vince Angst in his car dealership on Main Street in Stellarton. That’s when they knew the stars had aligned…
Read MoreRemember Meeka?
Meeka had been found with severe head trauma when the SPCA responded to a cruelty complaint in Pictou County. When rescued, she was bleeding and broken, but determined to survive. Because the Pictou County shelter does not have medical space, Meeka had to be rushed to Dartmouth to receive intensive veterinary care.
Luckily, Meeka not only survived, she has thrived! Meeka was adopted into a loving family and spends her days cuddling, going for walks, and playing with her favourite toys.
With your help, you will bring a new facility with veterinary care, programs, and supports, to local families. The North Nova SPCA will provide more than shelter for animals that are lost, injured, abandoned, or abused.
It will create families.
Many thanks to the North Nova Co-Chairs:
Honourary Chairs, Sharon & Elmer MacKay
Catherine and Sterling MacLean
Susan Peters
Emma Enman
Lisa MacDonald and Michael Vienneau
Steve Smith
Sean Murray
If you have any questions, please contact Marni Tuttle, CFRE, Director of External Relations:
mtuttle@spcans.ca
1-902-835-4798 ext 231