“But that’s not all, ladies. I know you mentioned the real risk you run of losing this property and I wanted to do something about that first. I feel it’s in your best interests to have a permanent home, one that can’t be taken away from you.”
“We’ve thought about it but even with the money we raised last week and your very generous donation, that’s not possible unless we go far out of town and that in itself creates problems for us as far as rescuing and adopting goes.” Carly shrugged. “The best we can hope for is our landlord having a change of heart and giving us a longer than expected lease.”
“Would you be prepared to move the shelter – still in Sausalito but to the other side of town just off of Highway one-o-one?”
Ruby stood and paced the office. “But that’s prime land. I doubt we could afford that. Maybe for a year or so, but then we’d be out of money again.”
“No you wouldn’t.” Graham smiled at the two of them. “My company is in the process of closing on a parcel of land in the area that I think would be perfect. The buildings might need some work to make them suitable for you, but there’s water on site, and plenty of room to grow. I’m prepared to offer the land to the shelter for free if you like it and to make my shareholders happy, you’d be required to meet, shall we say, some specific targets otherwise I’m afraid the rent would be the going rate.”
Ruby’s mouth dropped open. “What did you say?”
Carly grabbed her arm. “Seriously?”
Graham stood up. “Seriously. But even if you didn’t meet the targets, at least you’d have a permanent home.”
Carly held up her hand. “Hang on. Let’s go back a bit. You said, ‘meet certain requirements.’ Please explain that part.”
“Well, as much as I’d like to, I can’t just give you the property rent free or we’d get swamped with requests. If we could make it look as though we’re doing a service to the community at large, I’m sure I could get it past the board to give you a free or at least a nominal lease for many years to come.”
“What kind of service?” Ruby’s voice came out squeaky with the hint of panic rising. For a mere second, it seemed as though all of their dreams were about to come true. Now she wasn’t so sure.
Graham clasped his hands together. “How many dogs do you usually rehome a month and how many do you have now?”
Carly spoke up. “Average? Maybe forty-five cats and dogs on a good month and presently we’re housing around seventy.”
Graham smiled. “How about you push that up to, say sixty animals rehomed a month? I don’t mind helping with advertising and promoting. I have contacts that I can pull in.”
Ruby chewed on her lip and stared at him. “Like run an adoption promotion kind of thing?”
“Sure. Letterbox drops, advertise in the papers or on television and radio. Cut the adoption price down for one week a month to build interest. If you don’t have to pay a lease, you could probably afford to cover that drop in revenue. You can advertise on Facebook and hold a pot luck dinner so people can meet the dogs in a more casual setting. Whatever works. I’ve heard of a shelter in Washington that matches their dogs up from on-line applications and delivers them all over the country because not everyone has access to a shelter like this. That’s an idea too.”
“We don’t have a truck for that kind of thing.”
Carly nodded. “But you do, right?”
“I own a transport company. I’m sure if you decided to go that way, we could work it out. It would mean more office work for you to arrange things but it’s a good idea. Worth considering.”
“I agree.” Carly tipped her chin at Ruby. “What do you think? Do you want to try and see how we go?”
“But what if we can’t do it? And how many times do we have to rehome sixty animals? Is it a target we have to meet each month?”
“No.” Graham looked between them. “I’d like to see you meet sixty to start with and then set a target based on how many you have in on any one day. Say a percentage. It’s good business to have a healthy turnover and I feel it could work for the animals too. They don’t like it in here anymore than you like seeing them dumped.”
Ruby ran her hand over her hair, thinking about his words. He was right. If there was a way to speed up the adoption process and get them a cheap or free permanent shelter, she was all for it.
“But how can you afford to give away such an asset?” Ruby knew exactly how much land there was worth. She dreamed of having enough money to buy and knew she never would.
“I’m a wealthy man, Ruby. My company deals in property all the time and to be honest, the tax write off wouldn’t hurt me either. In fact, you’d almost be doing me a favor. And as I said, we want to be the shelter’s benefactors in our son’s name to keep his memory alive. Now he’s gone, there is no more family. We need to give our money where it will be most useful while still making our shareholders happy. Please say you’ll agree.” He cleared his throat as his eyes filled with sudden tears. Graham stood up and walked to the door where he pulled out a tissue and dabbed at his face before turning back to them.
Tears welled in Ruby’s eyes and she couldn’t get the words out. She blinked and glanced at Carly who had tears streaming down her face before focusing on Graham again. “What can I say but thank you. Thank you so very much.”
He held his arms open
