PITTSFIELD, Maine — It is “with a heavy heart” that SKILLS Inc. leaders made the recent decision to close Sebasticook Farms Kennel by the end of this month.
“This is a sad day for all of us,” SKILLS Inc. Executive Director Tom Davis said this week.
He said the decision was not made quickly or without considering the developmentally disabled adults who work at the boarding facility. Of six employees at the kennel three are disabled.
“The kennel represented us well,” Davis said. “People loved it.” Davis said the face-to-face contact that the disabled employees had with the public was positive for everyone involved.
The reality, however, is that even though the kennel was busy and filled to capacity during vacation and holiday times, there wasn’t enough business to keep the doors open.
“In the past, we’ve had the ability to carry the kennel with our other places, such as the sawmill, thrift shop and e-waste facilities. But these are commodity-based and they fell off the board last year. We’ve actually been looking closely at the kennel for the last several years. Closing it has been a long, painful decision.
“The kennel has had the good fortune to have lots of loyal customers. But it was always feast or famine. We were quite full on holidays and vacations, but we also had some very slow periods,” Davis said.
He said the kennel will be offered for sale or lease and if no one steps forward it will be reviewed for “its best and highest use” within the SKILLS programs.
The kennel has provided board and grooming services for the Sebasticook Valley area and beyond for six years.
Four years ago, Sebasticook Farms merged with Ken-A-Set and formed SKILLS — Somerset Kennebec Individualized Learning and Living Supports. It is a nonprofit organization that helps people with intellectual disabilities and other challenges to achieve their goals through employment, residential and supportive services, and through educating the public to eliminate barriers.
Of SKILLS’ 40 operations — which include a sawmill, recycling center and thrift stores — only the kennel has never received a single complaint. “We have had great feedback from the public,” he said.
The kennel has served more than 1,500 customers and their pets — cats and dogs — from all over Maine and nine other states since it opened in 2003.
The kennel originally was planned to provide meaningful work in a community setting for disabled adults. “It has absolutely met that goal,” Davis said. “This pattern of providing jobs in a high-profile business that is valued by the community fits our pattern perfectly. Our first goal is to employ people with disabilities. I don’t know what percentage of developmentally disabled adults are unemployed or underemployed, but it is huge. The 40 to 50 jobs we provide through SKILLS is a drop in the bucket.”
Davis said the now-empty adult day care program for disabled clients that was located on Detroit Avenue has not closed, just relocated.
“We have moved that program to a better location,” he said. “Moving that program and closing the kennel are not related to one another.”