TRACY- It takes a lot of helping hands working together to make a real difference in the world of animal rescue.

And early this week, many of those hands came together to celebrate new possibilities for the future.

Sammons Financial Group, (SFG) a Sioux Falls, South Dakota based company, recently donated $20,000 to Tracy Area Animal Rescue (TAAR), to help purchase items and build an infrastructure that will better position the nonprofit organization to continue helping animals across the region.

“We want to thank Sammons for their generosity – it will truly impact our ability to save the lives of animals in need,” TAAR board member Cathy Nelson said.

TAAR was chosen as a large-donation recipient because of its recognized service to animals – not only in its own community, but especially for its willingness to help South Dakota dogs in need. TAAR has stepped up to help with needs at the Sioux Falls Area Human Society and has also been instrumental in assisting with the out-of-control canine population on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

“This was a donation that was influenced by our employees,” President of Shared Services Robert TeKolste said in a news release. “Our employees are given the opportunity to request donations for organizations that have special meaning to them, the best investment of our dollars is with organizations that our employees are passionate about. We hope it goes a long way toward helping the mission of TAAR.”

Each year, SFG offers employees of its member companies the opportunity to request donations for local nonprofit organizations through the Community Impact Challenge. Misten (Schelhaas) Long works for SFG and brought the mission of TAAR to the attention of coworkers.

“Sammons Financial Group believes in building enduring value,” Long said. “That’s what we hope this donation will do for TAAR. We want it to allow them to do some of the bigger projects they need to do in order to keep helping animals in need.”

Long, along with two (Mandi Haase and Mariah Schelhaas) of her four sisters – all of whom grew up in the Ruthton and Balaton area – gravitated toward helping with animal rescue after hearing about two tragic deaths on reservations. This past November, 8-year-old Jayla Rodriguez was fatally mauled to death by a pack of dogs while she was sledding on Pine Ridge. On the neighboring Rosebud Indian Reservation in March, Julia Charging Whirlwind, the 49-year-old mother of five, was also killed by roaming, unruly dogs.

“SFG liked that the dogs were coming from Pine Ridge and Rosebud,” Nelson said. “We’ve also taken in some high needs animals from the Sioux Falls Humane Society – the ones that were going to be put down and we got them out of there – so there was that South Dakota connection.”

The three sisters often coordinate with volunteers from LightShine Canine: A Rez Dog Rescue, transporting the rescue animals to awaiting rescue organizations.

“Those three (Schelhaas) girls are fireballs,” Nelson said. “They’ve been amazing, especially with all the transporting they do. It’s all of us together. When you get good people on your team, incredible things can happen.”

Long explained that SFG is in the process of donating $420,000 back into the Sioux Empire Community through the company’s impact challenge.

“Our leadership believes that we can do the most good through organizations that our employees are directly involved in,” Long said. “So they divided up the Sioux Falls location into several teams, and those teams took nominations.”

Long noted that each team was allowed to choose up to three organizations. Long’s team – Pam Elhoff’s Non Profit Ninjas – took nominations and weighed the presentations given before making final decisions.

“I nominated and presented for TAAR,” Long said. “Then the team voted – and TAAR was in the top three.”

The last step in the process was to get final approval from the Charitable Giving Committee. The Non Profit Ninjas presented their three organizations and talked about the need and opportunities for employee involvement. Long said the committee was particularly moved by the help that TAAR is giving to the Pine Ridge dogs and other animals in South Dakota, which is why they were approved.

As it turns out, however, the committee had a surprise for Non Profit Ninjas.

“We moved the committee so much that they gave us extra money to donate, so we were able to increase the donation to TAAR from an initial $8,000 to $20,000,” Long said.

The amount of the donation was kept secret until the check was presented to TAAR on Monday. Tears of joy followed.

“Honestly, I felt like we had won the lottery,” Nelson said. “It was so exciting. All of the employees there knew it and we didn’t, and they were smiling at us.”

Nelson praised Long for her part in the monetary commitment to TAAR’s mission.

“We are so grateful to Misten,” Nelson said. “She must have put an amazing effort into this. That’s a lot of money for us. We’ll be able to do lots of good thing for animals with that money.”

Nelson said that there had been discussions about what to do with the funds, but that nothing had been voted on yet.

“We are thinking of doing something with the infrastructure,” she said. “I’d like to put up a big fenced in area, like a dog park, so that they could run and play and we could assess their personalities, to see how they get along with people and other dogs. We want to do something that will continue on.”

A large play area would also benefit rescued animals when it comes to much-needed exercise as well.

“One thing we’ve seen with our dogs we get in is that they just haven’t had enough exercise,” Nelson said. “When they come out to the farm and have the opportunity to run and play – to act like dogs – we don’t see as many behaviors. They’re like 5-year-olds. They have to get out and play. So we need a safe place for them to run.”

Nelson said there was also talk about the need for a small stainless steel building that could be used as a quarantine area.

“We need some kind of containment facility, so that we’re able to keep a close eye on everything,” Nelson said. “We need a quarantine area, so we aren’t risking and infecting our other animals. That would make things a little safer.”

The generous donation, coupled with the dedication of countless volunteers, ensures that the future looks bright for rescue animals whose lives are touched by TAAR.

“We hope this inspires other people and organizations in the area to get involved with TAAR,” Long said. “It truly takes a lot of people to keep this going.”