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NORFOLK — Originally founded in response to the mistreatment of workhorses in 1892, the Norfolk Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is one of the oldest animal welfare organizations in the country.
“It’s pretty amazing,” Executive Director Kimberly Sherlaw said. “I think we rarely look back in history that far, so 130 years for our organization as a nonprofit in this region is pretty remarkable.”
The SPCA recently celebrated its 130th anniversary at the Chrysler Museum of Art, where residents learned about the origins of the organization and its progress over the years. The nonprofit operates from the same site where a tiny shelter was built back in the 1940s.
“It’s amazing for me to sit in my office and look at the cinder block walls and think, ‘You know what, these are the original walls built by those that have the same level of compassion and passion for the cause so many years ago,’” Sherlaw said.
Today, the Norfolk SPCA serves as an active community shelter with adoption programs and two low-cost veterinary clinics serving the greater Hampton Roads region.
The building isn’t the only thing that has been a constant throughout the years; the dedication to the community as a whole has been the common thread woven through the fabric of the organization since its creation.
“It’s very much a business of the heart and a business that supports the community at a very strong infrastructure level,” Sherlaw said.
In the beginning, the protection of workhorses supported industry and the ability to run a city, and now that the organization is geared toward the protection of companion animals, it supports the community by caring for pets, which many people consider an extension of their own families.
In that endeavor, the Norfolk SPCA recognizes that a spay and neuter program is one of its core services that helps in curbing overpopulation, Sherlaw said, which is why the organization was on the forefront of that with one of the very first spay and neuter clinics inside its shelter.
“If you are able to provide access to those services and access to those services at a low cost, you are doing one of the most important things to stop the number of unwanted, accidental litters from basically saturating the shelter system,” Sherlaw said.
In 2007, the SPCA built a clinic inside the Norfolk Animal Care Center. In 2020, it recognized the need to provide a stationary site where more people could go to for access to low-cost spay and neuter services as the need had outgrown the space.
So in July 2021, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, it opened the community spay and neuter clinic at 2364 E. Little Creek Road and shifted to having two surgeons doing a minimum of 40 surgeries a day. At 40 surgeries a day, five days a week, that’s up to 200 surgeries a week and up to 10,000 surgeries in a year.
“Even if you took 50% of that and said if they had a litter of three, that’s 15,000 animals that will never enter the sheltering system in our region. It’s pretty incredible what we do out of a 3,000-square-foot space,” she said.
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She credits this possibility to the community the SPCA works so hard to care for.
“All of our funding comes from private donations: foundations, individuals and corporations. We are not receiving state funding. We do not receive funding from the ASPCA or the Humane Society of the United States unless we write a grant. What we do is based on community support,” Sherlaw said.
An obstacle the nonprofit now faces is the limitation of its facility with the rising number of animals that need assistance.
“This building is just no longer appropriate for the number of animals and the modern level and care that we want to provide the animals, not only in Norfolk, but across the greater Hampton Roads,” Sherlaw said. “Every time we have something related to building maintenance, it takes back from our ability to use funds for operating to put directly towards the animals. So, the facility here is definitely one of our largest obstacles.”
And with the number of animals being surrendered and abandoned at rates higher than she has ever seen in her 18-year career at the Norfolk SPCA, Sherlaw is hoping for a new facility on the horizon.
Sherlaw said the SPCA’s community service is at the core of where it started 130 years ago in protecting animals, eliminating their pain and suffering and helping the people who care about them. She attributes the longevity of the organization to commitment, resilience and being open to taking risks.
“You just have to stay committed, and in that commitment lies resilience. You take each obstacle and overcome it one at a time. Longevity is listening to your community,” she said, and that means finding creative ways to carry out the mission and taking risks such as opening the clinic in the middle of a pandemic.
She is optimistic and sees a bright future for the SPCA, beginning with the addition of six new board members.
“Bringing their expertise forward is essential to our success and what we do with the future,” Sherlaw said.
Founded: 1892
Headquarters: 918 Ballentine Blvd., Norfolk
Inside Business
Milestones reached: 1892 — Creating awareness of the need to protect animals from abuse, neglect and overuse; 1949 — Building a brick-and-mortar facility and shifting to the improvement of care from workhorses to companion animals; 2021 — Opening the community spay and neuter clinic and shifting to two surgeons doing a minimum of 40 surgeries a day.
Obstacles overcome: The outdated, outgrown facility; keeping up with the volume of animals that need assistance; and rallying resources through fundraising.
Keys to longevity: Commitment, resilience, listening to your community, finding out creative ways to carry out your mission and being willing to take risks.
What’s next: Opportunities through a new building for the animals that brings resources to the community and in leadership with a growing board of directors.
For more information: Visit norfolkspca.com.