SOAP LAKE — The Rock Bottom Rocker Pet Pantry in Soap Lake got a sizable boost recently from the Moses Lake-Grant County Humane Society.

It wasn’t the first time the MLGCHS had helped out the fledgling animal rescue, said Shawna Kluge, who started and runs Rock Bottom Rocker Pet Pantry, but it was certainly more than she expected.

“They've helped with several grants in the three years that we've been open,” Kluge said. “I think our first one was $500. Then we were awarded three $2,500 grants. And when she said they were having a board meeting and she was going to ask for help, that's what I assumed this grant would be. But we were given $10,000.”

The money came in the form of credit at Pioneer Veterinary Clinic in Moses Lake, said Linda Schultz, secretary of the MLGCHS, who reached out to Kluge initially.

“So in the past, our contributions have been $2,500,” Schultz said. “And (Kluge) normally carries a balance of about $1,800-$2,400. So when we give that to Pioneer Vet on her behalf, that will pay off her debt, and sometimes give her credit. Most recently, we were able to give her $5,000 which paid off her debt, because she had maxed that, and then we all decided to vote and gift an additional $5,000, which gave her a credit at the clinic of $5,000.”

The MLGCHS board actually put Kluge on speaker phone during its July 18 meeting, Kluge said, so she could hear members voting to approve her grant.

“Honestly, at the time we received the grant I was super-stressed about veterinary care,” Kluge said. “We have a $5,000 credit limit at Pioneer Vet and I was sitting in the parking lot of the clinic when they had their board meeting, with an emergency that had actually put me over my limit. Although the vet clinic will still see me if I'm at or above my $5,000 limit, we must have cash at time of service, so I'm sure you can imagine what a relief this grant was.”

The MLGCHS hasn’t operated a shelter of its own in many years, Schultz said, but it does direct grants to animal rescue organizations to help with their expenses. Their contributions come out of a fund that has been fed over the years by people who have passed away and left money to the organization, she explained.

The Rock Bottom Rocker Pet Pantry has undergone a lot of changes since Kluge started an unofficial food bank for pets in a garage in Soap Lake in March 2020. The pantry became an official nonprofit in November, and what was a place to find pet food has turned into a full-blown animal rescue.

“We have just over 40 dogs, and I think we have just over two dozen cats and kittens,” Kluge said. “That's ours, that we are responsible for. Then we have probably close to a dozen in foster care in homes throughout the county.”

The Rock Bottom Rocker Food Pantry long ago outgrew its little space in town and is now based on a rural property in the Soap Lake area. The animals are housed in homemade kennels and in enclosed inside a residence on the property. The accommodations may look makeshift, she said, but they’re comfortable and safe.

“At one point during the winter, we had the sheriff come for a welfare check,” she said. “Somebody had called and said they were concerned about the dogs being outside. So the sheriff came out and did his investigation. We have all of our kennels wrapped with hay tarps. All of the dog houses were insulated with hay bales around them. He was blown away. He's like, ‘You're still doing this pretty much by yourself, aren't you?’ I said ‘For the most part. You know, I have some help, but it's limited. And he's like, ‘I'm blown away, you are doing amazing.’”

Kluge gets a lot of pets whose owners have passed away, she said, and many that have been damaged or abused. Those animals can need a lot of veterinary care, she said, toward which the Humane Society grant goes a long way.

“One (dog) roamed Lakeview all winter and was being shot at,” she said. “(People) thought that she had a bullet in her head. It didn't end up being a bullet, it was a tumor. But we got her fixed, got the tumor removed.”

An animal like that has needs that go far beyond the physical, Kluge said. The dog that had the tumor is now getting some training and socialization, but she won’t get completely better until she has a forever home.

“This is not a complete home environment,” Kluge said. “They adjust the best when they can be free, you know, be on the couch or be part of a family, not when they're in a kennel. We have dog walkers that come and we walk too, but every day you're split between quite a few. So this is not the ultimate life, this is a stepping stone for them. I want them to have their forever families.”

“The other thing people should understand too is these dogs are in kennels and people look at and go, ‘Oh, they're in kennels, they don't get attention,” added Tina Funk, who has volunteered with Rock Bottom Rocker Pet Pantry since November. “They get love when you go into the kennel. They get lots of love, lots of attention. I mean, we'd love to be able to spend an endless amount of time in the kennels.”

Kluge prefers that donations be made directly, rather than sending money, she said, because the nonprofit currently doesn’t have a treasurer and she doesn’t want to risk making a mistake. People who want to donate for veterinary costs can send their contributions directly to Pioneer Veterinary, and those who have donations of food or supplies can contact her and she’ll arrange for it to be picked up.

“Without organizations like (Moses Lake-Grant County Humane Society), we wouldn't be here; we wouldn't be able to keep our doors open. We do get private donations, but it's hard these days … A lot of people don't have the time and the knowledge, they have the money. I have the time and the knowledge, but I don't have the money. We hopefully mesh together and we make something that works.”

Joel Martin may be reached via email at jmartin@columbiabasinherald.com.