Expansion official for Helen Woodward Center

RANCHO SANTA FE — Forty years of dedication and some new quarters were celebrated with a dedication ceremony on April 16 at the Helen Woodward Animal Center.
Donors, board members, relatives of the late Helen Whittier Woodward, and corporate sponsors gathered at 6523 Helen Woodward Way, formerly Calle Del Nido, in Rancho Santa Fe for the ribbon-cutting and dedication. Attendees took tours of the new small animal medical facility and administrative offices.
The new building, near the original entrance of the center on San Dieguito Road, covers 20,358 square feet. The mailing address for HWAC will remain as P.O. Box 64, Rancho Santa Fe, CA. The physical address will become 6523 Helen Woodward Way, Suite 100.
“It’s not exactly Noah and the Ark,” said HWAC spokesman John Van Zante. “But this move is a major undertaking after more than 35 years in the first building that Helen erected to care for orphan animals and to educate children.”
Bryce Rhodes, chairman of the center’s board of directors, and grandson of Helen Whittier Woodward, believes his grandmother would be pleased. “She had a great love of animals. It would definitely make her happy to see what has become of the work that she began when she bought this property 40 years ago.”
HWAC President Mike Arms said that the new facility has been a long time coming. “Even before I arrived at HWAC in 1999 there was already talk about the need to expand in order to continue serving the community that has grown around the center. It’s been my honor to lead us through this phase of construction and into the future of the center.”