When Staci Columbo talks about the impetus for the Shade Tree Shelter's newest addition, a 1,400-square-foot facility that will become a permanent structure on the grounds of the shelter, she breaks down in tears.

"I'm sorry, this happens every time I start to think about how important this project is," she said on a recent morning, while addressing her belief in the need to offer shelter to not just homeless and abused women and children in the Las Vegas Valley, but to their pets.