Crystal Lake no-kill shelter of 30-plus years in danger of closing, director says

The Assisi Animal Foundation in Crystal Lake has been open since 1983, but now the shelter is in danger of closing down for good, the shelter’s director said.

The shelter is facing a staffing and volunteer shortage and a lack of applicants – full- or part-time – for new hires, Director Isabelle Linklater said. It’s an issue that’s come to a head since the start of the pandemic, when the shelter’s volunteer base first began eroding.

At the moment, the foundation is down to four staff, Assistant Director Kristi Goldberg said. Before that, Goldberg said, they had between 12 and 15 employees.

At least one other longtime McHenry County shelter also is having staffing issues. Donna Matejka, president and CEO of Helping Paws Animal Shelter in Woodstock – which has been around for more than 50 years – said her shelter, too, is struggling to find enough staff and volunteers.

A 2021 national survey of 150 shelters and animal organizations conducted by the Best Friends Animal Foundation found that 88% reported staffing shortages, with 61% operating at at least 10% below normal staffing levels.

Linklater, who first opened the shelter and lives on-site, cited possible reasons such as the unglamorous work, which includes mopping floors and cleaning cages; issues with COVID-19 and the shelter’s vaccination requirements; and an inability for the nonprofit to compete with unemployment benefits.

Meanwhile, some of the shelter’s dedicated volunteers dropped off because of family reasons or younger workers leaving for college, Linklater said.

A Gallup poll found that 56% of respondents said they volunteered their time to a religious or charitable organization in the past year, according to a January report. Volunteer activity had dropped in 2020 but, in contrast to charitable giving, has remained lower than it was in pre-pandemic surveys, the report found.

“Kristi is exhausted, I’m exhausted,” Linklater said. “This is an SOS to animal lovers. Closing down a store or business, that’s terrible. But here we are talking about living creatures. We’ll take anybody.”

Matejka also speculated that the rising cost of living meant former volunteers had to put in more hours working. She said some of Helping Paws’ more dedicated volunteers had put in more hours at the shelter to compensate, but she worried about burnout.

When the Assisi Animal Foundation tried to hire, it found what it thought were good candidates, Linklater said. The candidates were offered a position but never showed up. Since then, the shelter hasn’t gotten any responses to its job postings.

“Everywhere is having difficulty with staffing, but a lot of places are bigger than us,” Goldberg said. “They can accommodate more flexibility with things like vacations.”

A June 2022 national hiring report released by Robert Half showed that 39% of interviewed employers said “ghosting” by potential hirees after an interview had increased since the pandemic began.

The shelter ideally would like to have five or six new hires, either part- or full-time, Linklater said, adding that the primary criterion is that they “just love animals.”

One outgoing staff member, Jessica Bruchman, told the Northwest Herald that her time working at Assisi was “excellent” and she loved being around the animals, but she was moving to be closer to an ill relative.

At the moment, Assisi is offering positions in the range of $15 to $19 an hour, depending on experience, Linklater said. She added that the shelter does not offer health insurance or other benefits because of the added costs the foundation would incur.

For similar reasons, the shelter has not adjusted the salary range or benefits despite the lack of candidates, Linklater said.

The foundation was considering offering internships but has not yet posted for such a position, Linklater said.

One concern about advertising the shelter, Linklater said, was the fact that people will come and drop off too many animals.

At the moment, the shelter is home to about 100 animals, a mix of dogs and cats including some rescued from kill shelters, Linklater said. Some of the cats have been with the shelter for eight years.

Goldberg described herself as a “sucker for special needs cats” with deformities or disabilities. They often get euthanized first, and she said she works hard to take care of “the underdogs.”

Despite being close to what she described as a worst-case scenario, Linklater said she doesn’t know what she will do with the animals on-site if the foundation shuts down.