Super One shoppers raise $24,450 for Animal Allies shelter

A checkout-line round-up at Super One Foods produced $24,450 for Animal Allies, enough to cover 978 animal-days of care at the shelter’s stated minimum cost of $25 a day. That works out to roughly a month of care for 32 animals, a useful measure for a Duluth nonprofit that says every intake brings food, shelter, medical care and adoption costs that do not stay fixed.

The campaign ran from mid-April through early May and marked the fourth year of the Super One-Animal Allies partnership. Over those four years, the effort has brought in more than $100,000 for the shelter, turning spare change from grocery trips into a repeat funding stream instead of a one-time donation drive.

Animal Allies says it has served the lower St. Louis County area for more than 60 years, with roots dating to 1957. The organization moved into its current Airport Road shelter in 2009, and in 2010 it launched Campaign for Zero, a push to eliminate euthanasia of healthy animals. Since then, the shelter says it has maintained a release rate of 95% or higher, a standard that depends on keeping animals healthy enough to make it to adoption.

The money matters because Animal Allies says its costs are constant even when the cases are not. Adoption manager Nicole Facciotto has pointed to sick kittens as an example of how quickly ordinary shelter expenses can rise when an animal needs extra treatment. The organization says each animal costs at least $25 a day to care for, and that figure does not stretch on its own when the shelter is carrying a full load of animals, waiting for adoptions and taking in new arrivals.

Those pressures also explain why Animal Allies says surrender appointments are required because of kennel capacity. The shelter charges surrender fees of $45 for cats and $100 for dogs at intake, and it says community support helps keep the operation moving beyond adoptions alone. Along with animal placement, the nonprofit says it offers humane education, foster support and volunteer opportunities.

Animal Allies is located at 4006 Airport Road in Duluth, where its adoption center is open Tuesday through Friday from noon to 6 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. The Super One campaign shows how a small add-on at the register can become measurable operating support for one of the region’s longstanding animal-care safety nets.