The idea to build an animal adoption center in Garrett County began when it became clear that the county would not be able to improve its animal shelter due to limited resources and many competing priorities. After four years of working with the shelter in order to rescue and transport adoptable animals, HART decided to raise private funds to build an animal adoption center.

The motivation was twofold: by building its own facility, HART could rescue a greater number of animals who would be able to wait a longer period for adoption in larger and more comfortable surroundings; and HART could create a new approach to animal sheltering in smaller communities by combining the compassion of animal welfare organizations with the practicality of raising enough revenue to support the rescue and adoption operations. The ultimate goal was to help more animals with better results by having Garrett County become a shining example of Gandhi’s words, “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated… the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man.”