Windsor-Essex Humane Society marks 100 years with centennial garden, fundraising milestone

Windsor-Essex County Humane Society Executive Director Lynette Bain accepts a $62,000 donation from Tony and Mary Pattinson to help the organization reach its goal of raising $100,000 as part of its Fuel the Future campaign.

The Windsor/Essex County Humane Society is marking a century of service with a new centennial garden in Jackson Park — and a major fundraising milestone aimed at keeping its animal protection work on the road.

The garden, unveiled Tuesday, was created to celebrate the organization’s 100th anniversary and is meant to serve as a tribute to a century of compassion, advocacy and care for animals in Windsor and Essex County.

Located in Jackson Park, the display can be seen by park visitors and motorists travelling along Ouellette Avenue.

“We are incredibly proud to celebrate 100 years of serving animals and the people who care about them,” said Lynette Bain, executive director of the Windsor/Essex County Humane Society. “The centennial garden is a beautiful way to commemorate this milestone and reflect on the thousands of animals whose lives have been changed through the support of our community.”

At the same time, the humane society announced it has reached its $100,000 goal for the Fuel the Future campaign.

The campaign was launched to help the organization buy two new vehicles, which officials say are critical to its daily operations, including emergency animal rescues, investigations, animal transports, community outreach and mobile veterinary care.

Bain said the campaign received a major boost from longtime supporters Tony and Mary Pattinson, who made a $62,000 donation.

“It really gave us that extra power to pull through,” Bain said. “The day that they contacted us, I think I yelled so loud in the shelter that everybody knew something big happened.”

Bain said the donation came at a crucial time, with one of the organization’s vans losing its transmission that same week.

“It just made such a huge difference and lifted a weight off our shoulders,” she said.

The humane society says its current vehicles are aging and increasingly unreliable, despite being used for lifesaving work across the region.

Bain said the vehicles are “not a luxury” but a lifeline.

“We have to be ready at any time of day with a vehicle that’s reliable,” she said. “You never know what kind of call you’re going to get, whether it’s rescuing a bald eagle, a falcon, a snake — it could be a larger animal.”

The vehicles are also used to transport animals to rescue facilities, rehabilitation centres, veterinary appointments, foster homes and adoption partners.

“Having the flexibility of a vehicle that’s large, that we can equip with the tools that we need, keeps our staff safe and the animal safe,” Bain said.

Preston Soucie, the humane society’s animal care and protection supervisor, said the vehicles are used across Windsor-Essex, from Windsor to Lakeshore, Amherstburg and beyond.

“When a call comes through, we’ve got to go. We don’t want to leave any animal alone or to suffer,” said Soucie.

The vehicles are used for a wide range of calls, including loose dogs, injured wildlife, orphaned animals and community support services. They also help transport animals to foster partners and adoption locations.

“Pretty much everything that we do that requires transportation, these vehicles do for us,” Soucie said.

Soucie said the service runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with emergency response available overnight.

“These things are rolling all the time,” he said.

According to Soucie, the vehicles can travel roughly 200 to 300 kilometres in a day, per vehicle, and close to 1,000 kilometres a week when all calls are added together.

He said reliability has been one of the biggest concerns for staff in recent years.

“It’s been tough in the last few years when you’ll lose a vehicle due to a mechanical issue, when you have the entire area to service and only one and a half vehicles to do it,” Soucie said. “It gets tough.”

The campaign also supports the humane society’s Helping Paws program, which provides accessible veterinary care to low-income pet owners and helps keep pets healthy and at home with their families.

Mary Pattinson said the donation was made in honour of the animals that have been part of her family’s life.

“We’ve always been dog lovers,” she said in the release. “At every major event in our lives, there have been dogs standing by us.”

The centennial garden will remain on display throughout the season in Jackson Park.