NNHS changes brand, not focus

By Editor | February 12, 2026 |

NNHS
The NNHS animal shelter has new cartoon mascots based on real animals who have spent time at the shelter.

MARYVILLE, Mo. — Formerly known as the New Nodaway Humane Society, the local animal shelter and its nonprofit board of directors announced Monday it is simplifying its name to NNHS as part of a rebranding effort aimed at reintroducing the organization to the community and clarifying its mission.

The community- and donor-supported no-kill shelter partnered with Knacktive, a Northwest Missouri State University student-run marketing agency, to complete the project.

Wes Rockwood, a member of the NNHS Board of Directors, said he hopes the reintroduction will help in a few ways. One is to deemphasize the word “New,” as the shelter has been operating since 1985. Another is removing the reference to the county, which he hopes will help people stop associating the shelter with county operations. Nodaway County does not contract with the shelter, yet Rockwood said they still hear from people who believe the county operates it.

That misconception makes it more difficult to raise funds and seek donations, he said. While the shelter responds when the sheriff’s office reports a loose dog, it is not compensated for doing so.

“We do it because it’s the right thing to do,” Rockwood said. “It’s better than leaving a dog to be run over by a car, but it’s hard.”

He explained that when the shelter receives a call and decides to attempt to capture a dog, it can take hours for staff to locate and secure the animal. Four hours for one staff member can cost about $60 in labor, depending on who responds.

Once captured, the dog is brought to the shelter, adding the costs of veterinary care, food and housing.

“It’s good for the animals — that’s the bottom line,” Rockwood said. “… I do it because I want them all to have a home.”

Managing the animals and the money

Rockwood said working with the students at Knacktive went well and that they brought numerous ideas, including a name change, to help the shelter better communicate its challenges and mission.

Ultimately, the board decided a full name change was unnecessary. The updated branding honors the shelter’s history while emphasizing its core purpose. A new logo features the abbreviated name alongside a heart-filled paw, symbolizing the donors, volunteers, staff and community members who support the shelter. The refresh also introduces mascots intended to bring a more approachable focus back to the animals.

Rockwood said he hopes the refresh will help people understand how the nonprofit manages to care for the more than 750 animals that come through its doors each year. With an operating budget of around $435,000 and no designated funding source, the shelter relies almost entirely on community support and donations.

He said the city of Maryville does provide some funding. In November, the city approved an annual agreement with NNHS for animal control, shelter and related services totaling $75,000. That amount accounts for less than 20 percent of the shelter’s annual budget and applies only to dogs within city limits and a five-day holding period.

“So anything above and beyond that five-day hold, technically speaking, is coming out of donated or grant money,” Rockwood said. “If we were operating strictly under the city requirement, it would be a five-day hold, and if nobody claims the animal, euthanize.”

That is not the direction the shelter’s board wants to take.

“I would hope we would close before making that change,” Rockwood said.

He said costs continue to rise while donations have not kept pace. He specifically noted that the increase in minimum wage to $15 per hour had a significant impact on the shelter.

“We’re at a point where it’s hard to keep our head above water,” Rockwood said. “Labor costs, minimum wage has really just changed that immensely, it added $100,000 easily to our budget a year.”

On the animal side of costs, Rockwood said the average stay for a dog is 40 days, and at an estimated cost of about $12 per day, that totals roughly $500 per dog.

“We do not recoup that cost with adoption fees or anything like that,” he said. “It’s covered by grants, donations, community support, volunteerism, etc.”

Rockwood said fellow board members Ray Courter and Doug Sutton have seen the shelter through lean times, when board members had to volunteer extensively and provide financial support to keep the shelter open.

“We’re not in that situation now, but we’re not on a sustainable trajectory,” he said. “My goal is to find a more sustainable path forward.”

He would like to, at some point in the future, see the shelter be able to operate from an endowment, a donated pool of assets to provide perpetual, long-term financial support.

“We can’t do this without the community,” Rockwood said

The shelter will celebrate the new branding with the Greater Maryville Chamber of Commerce at 11 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 12, at the NNHS building, located at 829 S. Depot St.