Questions and FAQs

Fre­quently Asked Questions

Have you ever won­dered how many species are rep­re­sented in the Noah’s Ark ani­mal pop­u­la­tion? Check this out to see who you can see at Noah’s Ark.

1. How did Noah’s Ark get started?
Noah’s Ark’s birth­day is Feb­ru­ary 13, 1962, the date the dream was birthed in the heart of a very small child, Jama Hedge­coth. As a young girl she told her par­ents that when she grew up , she would have a home for all the unwanted chil­dren and ani­mals. She would have peo­ple come visit them and would never charge a dime.

2. How long have you been in oper­a­tion?
Jama has taken in ani­mals and chil­dren her entire life. In 1978, she and her fam­ily moved to a farm in North Henry County. When the ani­mal pop­u­la­tion grew too large for their home and land, the fam­ily and all the res­i­dent ani­mals moved to our cur­rent loca­tion, a 250 acre farm in Locust Grove, Georgia.

3. Who are the reg­u­lat­ing offices and what kind of licenses are you required to have in order to do what you do?
The Chil­dren Care Home is licensed with the Depart­ment of Human Resource as a Child Car­ing Insti­tu­tion — The Ani­mal Reha­bil­i­ta­tion Cen­ter is licensed with Depart­ment of Nat­ural Resources, U.S. Depart­ment of Fish and Game and U.S. Depart­ment of Agriculture.

4. Where does Noah’s Ark get its chil­dren?
The chil­dren come to Noah’s Ark from the Depart­ment of Fam­ily and Chil­dren Ser­vices and the Depart­ment of Juve­nile Justice.

5. Where does Noah’s Ark get its ani­mals?
The ani­mals come from the Depart­ment of Nat­ural Resources, Zoos and from the gen­eral public.

6. Does Noah’s Ark have an Endow­ment?
Not at the present time, although we would love to have one. We trust God on a month-to-month basis to sup­ply our needs. We are thank­ful for His faithfulness.

7. How does Noah’s Ark get its fund­ing for ani­mals?
The major­ity of fund­ing for the ani­mals come from gen­eral dona­tions and, fund rais­ers with a min­i­mal amount from foun­da­tional grants.

8. How does Noah’s Ark get its fund­ing for the chil­dren?
Fund­ing for the chil­dren comes from per diem through the Depart­ment of Fam­ily and Chil­dren Ser­vices, gen­eral dona­tions, spon­sor pro­gram, fund rais­ers and foun­da­tional grants.

9. When did Noah’s Ark become Incor­po­rated?
Ani­mal Reha­bil­i­ta­tion — 1991, Chil­dren Care Homes — 1993

10. When did Noah’s Ark receive its non­profit sta­tus?
Our non­profit sta­tus was achieved in 1990

11. What is our bud­get and admin­is­tra­tion costs?
The Chil­dren Care Home bud­gets is $792,109 per year and the Ani­mal Rehab Cen­ter is $997,002. 92 % of the Ani­mal Rehab’s bud­get is spent directly on the ani­mals while 93% of the Care Home’s bud­get is for the chil­dren. The remain­ing per­cent­ages (8% and 7% respec­tively) are for fund rais­ing and admin­is­tra­tion costs.

12. Do you mix the money for both ani­mals and chil­dren?
There is NO co-mingling of funds. Noah’s Ark has two sep­a­rate 501-© 3 cor­po­ra­tions to pro­tect the integrity of gifts given and the mis­sion of the indi­vid­ual organizations.

13. How much does it cost to feed all the ani­mals?
Approx­i­mately $12,000.00 per month. ****Much of this is donated by in-kind dona­tions, how­ever, if we had to buy all the feed, this would be our approx­i­mate cost.

14. How much does it cost to feed a child per day?
About $9.00 per day.

15. Does Noah’s Ark take dogs and cats?
Cur­rently there is lim­ited space and fund­ing avail­able for the place­ment of pets. How­ever, Noah’s Ark cur­rently pro­vides a wide net work for the place­ment of ani­mals through refer­rals. The Noah’s Ark Ani­mal Reha­bil­i­ta­tion and Edu­ca­tion Cen­ter is des­ig­nated a “No Kill” Cen­ter. Fund­ing in the amount of $250,000 annu­ally would be required to oper­ate a full ser­vice ani­mal adop­tion program.

16. What is a “No Kill” Shel­ter?
A “No Kill” cen­ter saves both healthy and treat­able pets, with euthana­sia used only for unhealthy and un-treatable animals

17. Does Noah’s Ark ever turn down ani­mals?
Yes, but only because of the lack of money to build habi­tats and fund­ing to feed them. Noah’s Ark does pro­vide a net­work­ing place­ment sys­tem and has been able to place hun­dreds of ani­mals through referrals.

18. How many vol­un­teer help at Noah’s Ark?
Every year 250 or more vol­un­teers come for group work projects and to help with events. We also have 10 to 12 peo­ple who vol­un­teer weekly to work with the ani­mals and children.

19. How many full and part time employ­ees do you have for both com­pa­nies?
We have a total of 14 part-time and full-time employees

20. How many chil­dren do you have?
We have the capac­ity to care for 24 chil­dren from birth to 18 years old.

21. How many per­ma­nent ani­mals do you have?
Approx­i­mately 1,300 — exotic, wildlife and domes­tic ani­mals. We have over 100 dif­fer­ent species of animals.

22. How do you know there is a need for your pro­gram for chil­dren?
We receive hun­dreds of phone calls each year and have to turn chil­dren away because we can only pro­vide a home for 24 children.

23. How do you know there is a need for your pro­gram for ani­mals?
We receive phone calls daily. Last year we had to turn away approx­i­mately 2,500 ani­mals due to lack of funds.

24. What vet­eri­nar­i­ans do you use?
We use many vets and spe­cial­ists who are rec­om­mended by one of our board member’s who is also a vet­eri­nar­ian. She has also been our senior vet and a vol­un­teer since 1990.

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