ARF Gets A New Campus And New Executive Director

In 1974, three intrepid, animal-loving Hamptonites joined forces to create the The Animal Rescue Fund – more familiarly known as “ARF” – to help homeless and abandoned cats and dogs, many left behind after the summer season ended. Our Hamptons community has thankfully changed since then, and over the past half-century, ARF has helped more than 30,000 cats and dogs with lots of love and compassion, as well as food, shelter, medical care and training for the express purpose of finding forever homes for these animals.  

This past May, ARF dedicated its new and renovated campus called Forever Home, a project intended to ensure ARF’s future for the next 50 years. The project was more than a decade in the making, beginning in 2012 when ARF reached out to architect Richard Bacon, a specialist in the design of animal care facilities, with a view towards reconfiguring the ARF lobby, improving the catteries and creating a training facility for dogs that could be used year-round. By 2015, significant changes included converting the basement of the ARF medical building into an intake facility for rescued animals and renovations to the first floor of the same building to create a new surgery suite, x-ray room, and isolation rooms specifically for cats. 

In conjunction with introducing its updated facilities, ARF introduced a new face at the helm of the organization: Kimberly J. Nichols as Executive Director. Ms. Nichols has over twenty-five years of experience with nonprofit organizations, working with the most vulnerable members of our communities from domestic violence to hospice care to community health. Ms. Nichols will oversee all departments at the newly renovated Richard Wells McCabe Welcome Center at ARF’s campus in East Hampton and the ARF Thrift & Treasure Shop in Sagaponack. “Everything in my background has brought me to this point today – helping those who are in need,” Ms. Nichols commented when asked about her past experience as it relates to her current position. “And the staff here is incredible – dedicated to doing whatever is needed, from training to behavioral assessment to creatively meeting our animals’ needs.”

In 2020 with a “transformative” endowment gift commitment from Richard Wells McCabe, ARF launched the Forever Home Campaign to raise funds to rebuild ARF’s kennels, renovate its lobby, catteries, puppy rooms, and offices, and build a year-round training center; ARF broke ground on the project a year later. Now, in The Richard Wells McCabe Welcome Center, ARF’s adopters will be greeted in a spacious, redesigned, light-filled lobby. The space features retail, get-acquainted rooms, and new homes for small dogs and puppies. The catteries and kitten room have been completely renovated to include custom-built features for climbing, perching, and play. For dogs, there is a 7,000-square-foot kennel building constructed with high-quality, durable materials, sound-dampening acoustic insulation, a sophisticated HVAC system, and a nitrogen-reducing waste treatment system. At every step in the design process, consideration was taken for the well-being of the dogs and the work of staff to care for them. The building includes 36 individual kennels along with private rooms for dogs with special needs, get-acquainted rooms for adopters, and new outdoor exercise areas.

The ARF upgrade includes a new 8,400 square foot training center (called the William P. Rayner Training Center) for year-round training, socialization and enrichment for ARF’s canines, increasing ARF’s capacity to provide classes for the public and adopters in any weather at any time of the year. The building will include 40 individual kennels along with flexible rooms for dogs with special needs, meet-and-greet rooms for adopters, and new outdoor exercise areas. “This new training center is a dream come true,” shares Ms. Nichols. “Now we are not at the mercy of the weather with our training programs – and we plan to offer more and expanded training programs for adopters as well as to the general public.”

ARF is built completely on community support, volunteerism and donations. Interested in donating your time or treasure to ARF? ARF is a hub of vibrant and active volunteerism in our community, with opportunities to work at the ARF Thrift and Treasure Shop in Sagaponack, or with the animals at the new and improved East Hampton campus. For more information, visit arfhamptons.org/giving-opportunities.

Mark your calendar for ARF’s biggest yearly fundraiser, the Bow Wow Meow Ball on Saturday, August 19. On hiatus for the past few years due to the pandemic, the Bow Wow Meow Ball returns and will be held in the new William P. Rayner Training Center at 6:30 pm for cocktailing, dining, dancing and a live auction. Or join ARF for their 30th Annual Stroll to the Sea Dog Walk on Saturday morning, October 7, 2023.