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Shelter gets help from area 4-Hers
A group of area youth picked up hoses and took some leashes to give the operators of the Lee's Paws and Claws Animal Shelter some much-needed help Saturday.
Members of the Barnstormers 4-H club in Bourbon County, who are between 7 and 10 years of age, spent about a half-day working at the no-kill shelter, which is located at 721 240th St. The youngsters' duties included cleaning the animal pens, walking the dogs for exercise, teaching obedience, and playing with the animals.
"This is our annual community service project," Kelli Crystal, community leader of the Barnstormers 4-H Club, said. "We do at least one each year. We knew they were in need out here. And what kid doesn't like animals? We thought we'd incorporate fun into giving back to the community."
Crystal said there are about 25 kids in the club.
"The kids become better citizens and a better part of the community," she said. "It's fun and educational and it makes them better citizens. And it shows that 4-H kids do other stuff besides just showing at the fair."
Crystal's 7-year-old son, Tate, a member of the club, did his part by using a squeegee to clean floors of the shelter, and also playing with the various dogs and cats that inhabit the facility.
Tate said the day was "fun" and the reason the group visited the shelter is because "helping others is important."
The club participates in other projects throughout the year, including visiting area nursing homes to sing Christmas carols, adopting a family from The Beacon, a local food pantry and community assistance agency, and other activities.
"We give Christmas presents to kids, and we also decorated pumpkins for the Pioneer Harvest Fiesta," Tate said.
Tate said he likes playing with cats because "they're furry."
This is Tate's first year in 4-H, Kelli said, but he has been attending meetings since birth.
"He's been exposed to quite a bit," she said.
Kelli said club members also brought several items to donate to the shelter, including cat and dog food, treats, sleeping mats, money, and cleaning supplies.
"They all brought something," she said.
Ron Rogers, owner of Rogers and Sons Concrete, and his crew were also on hand Saturday to begin building a fenced-in area for the dogs that live at the shelter to run and get some exercise. A group of older youth in their early teens help put up the posts for the fences, which are complete.
Bob Hoffman, who manages the shelter with his wife, Ann Gillmore-Hoffman, said items that the kids donated were "very helpful to us."
"They brought in a lot of cleaning supplies for us," he said. "We use a couple gallons of bleach a week for cleaning purposes."
Hoffman said the volunteers who helped put up the fence posts "saved us so much time and energy." Volunteers will start putting the fence up Saturday, Nov. 3, so the run area can be used starting Nov. 4.
The shelter does get some help from volunteers in the community who come in to clean and walk the animals regularly, but has lost some helpers who clean recently and could use some more assistance as he and his wife are taking care of the animals "24/7," Hoffman said.
Hoffman said the shelter is pretty full currently but could handle four to six more dogs, depending on their size. He said the space exists to house a few more dogs, but volunteers have to be available to take on the additional work.
The shelter is a "donation-based" facility that receives money from a small endowment fund each year that "covers about 25-30 percent of our operating budget," Hoffman said.
Ideally, Hoffman said he would like to recruit two to three volunteers who would be willing to clean at the shelter a couple of days each week, because right now, he can't get people who will work a full day starting in the early morning. Each volunteer could work two days and then "have four days off from cleaning," and the days would be rotated each week, he said.
"An extra person through the workday each week would help us out tremendously," Hoffman said. "It would cut our workday by about one-third."
All animals at the shelter are adoption-ready, with a full complement of shots and spayed/neutering already done. There is a $65 adoption fee for dogs and a $55 fee for cats.
Hoffman said anyone who is interested in volunteering at the shelter, or just needs more information, may contact him at (620) 223-2888.