Pet center in Camden breaks ground

Although the late Judy Thiel wasn’t there to see her dream become reality, she was there in spirit at Wednesday’s groundbreaking for a pet adoption center in Camden.

“She loved animals,” said Christie Taucher, Thiel’s sister, joined by friends, family and city officials for the event. “This was the one thing that she really wanted.”

Thiel, who served as the Kershaw County Humane Society’s board president, died in summer 2013. But thanks to her legacy of giving and the generosity of a Columbia developer and the Camden community, the new Meyer-Thiel Pet Adoption Center is scheduled to open in June.

The new 16,000-square-foot location, at 128 Black River Road, will offer care for abandoned animals, including an adoption center, kennels and administrative offices.

While organizers are about $400,000 short of a $2 million fundraising goal to build the center, they are confident they will hit their number. Much of that confidence is due to the work of Austin Meyer, a Columbia native and developer of the flight simulator X-Plane, an advocate for animals himself.

Meyer first donated $1.5 million to help create the Meyer-Finlay Pet Adoption Center at 1275 Bower Parkway in Columbia’s Harbison area. After seeing the success at that center, Meyer and his wife, Lane, wanted to do more.

“Of course I noticed how happy the pets and the people adopting (them) became,” Meyer said of that facility. “What surprised me the most was how happy the volunteers became because of the new facilities.”

Meyer and his wife found the Walter Crowe Animal Shelter run by the Kershaw County Humane Society in Camden. After touring the facility, they knew it needed help.

“I looked at how much these people cared. It isn’t worth it to just throw money at things and hope it works,” Meyer said. “It only works if you know that those that receive it will do great things with it.”

In 2012, Meyer agreed to sponsor a “Double the Love” matching campaign, in which for every dollar donated to the Walter Crowe Animal Shelter, he and his family would match the donation – up to $1 million.

Thiel, for whom the Camden center is named, would be pleased, her sister said.

“She wasn’t really sure if it would happen,” Taucher said. “Even though she isn’t here, I know she’s happy that it finally will.”

This story was originally published March 25, 2015 at 6:08 PM.