43
FOSTERING MORE CARE: Angels expands hours, seeks more volunteers
Video
Photo
SITTING PRETTY: Kate McDermott, the new general manager at Angels for Animals, holds a purebred Siberian cat recently brought to the shelter.
Photo
SAVE ME: A cat peers from behind a sign at Angels for Animals on West South Range Road.
It costs about $900,000 annually to operate the Angels for Animals shelter.
NORTH LIMA — Angels for Animals wants to get more pets into permanent homes and is expanding the hours the shelter is open to the public.
Beginning Tuesday, the West South Range Road shelter will be open 40 hours per week, up from 13 hours.
The new hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays and from noon to 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays. The shelter will be closed Sundays and Mondays beginning this weekend.
It’s the brainchild of Kate McDermott, who began as the shelter’s general manager Aug. 1 after working at the shelter for about two years.
“We want to get more pets adopted, and the only way to do that is to have more availability of the shelter to the public,” she said.
Diane Less, the shelter’s co-founder, agrees.
“The most disappointing thing about this facility is that it isn’t open any more hours to the public than it was when we were in a little chicken shack,” she said, referring to the organization’s early years. “I’m very, very happy about this change. We need to be more accessible to the public.”
The shelter is staffed with a handful of paid personnel but relies mostly on volunteers to carry much of the load of keeping the shelter operating. McDermott, a registered veterinary technician, said active shelter volunteers number about 135.
“We need two or three times that many,” Less said.
Information about how to volunteer is available at the Web site www.angelsforanimals.org.
Another change McDermott is making is better organization of volunteers. She’s heard from some people who formerly volunteered that they didn’t feel appreciated, and she hopes to remedy that, too.
McDermott also changed the intake of new cats and dogs, or when people bring animals in, to be scheduled any weekday by appointment. Intake had previously been limited to one day per week for each type of animal.
It costs $100 to adopt a cat younger than six months; $90 to adopt a cat six months or older and $50 to adopt a cat that’s been at the shelter for six months or longer.
For dogs, the cost is $250 for puppies younger than six months, $150 for dogs six months and older and $125 for dogs that have been at the shelter for at least six months. The puppy cost includes a $50 refundable puppy-training class fee.
Adoption fees for pets include spaying or neutering costs, vaccinations and testing and microchip identification.
Andrews Hall, on the shelter campus, is available for rental, and Angels offers cremation services and referral to area veterinarians where pet owners may get their animals fixed for a discounted charge.
It costs $900,000 per year to operate Angels, and the shelter takes in about 8,000 animals annually, Less said.
Homes and a good life for animals are the shelter’s goal. Animals may be euthanized for medical and temperament reasons — not due to space, age, breed or handicap.
“We take in more animals than all of the shelters and pounds in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties combined,” the co-founder said.
Some of the animals get surrendered by their owners. Some get dropped off at the shelter, and some are brought in as strays.
The organization also does its work with no government funding. Angels runs on donations and fundraisers.
In this bad economy, donations are down, Less said. The number of animals needing help, though, has increased as home foreclosures and job losses prompt people to surrender or drop off their pets.
Every small amount helps, Less said.
“People may see that it costs $900,000 [annually] to operate the shelter and think their $25 doesn’t make any difference,” Less said. “Yes, it does.”
denise_dick@vindy.com
Upcoming fundraisers:
Saturday, 12th annual Angels Poker Run, starting and ending at the shelter. The cost is $15 per rider or $20 per couple. Registration starts at 10:30 a.m., with the last bike out at noon. Prizes will be awarded.
Monday, Bob Evans Community Fun Night, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fifteen percent of dine-in or carry-out sales at the Austintown restaurant will go to the shelter. A flier, available at the shelter or its Web site, www.angelsforanimals.org, must accompany the check for the shelter to receive the donation.
Sept. 13, spaghetti dinner, from noon to 4 p.m. in Andrews Hall at Angels. The cost is $6 for adults, $3.50 for children age 6 to 17 and free for younger children.
Oct. 18, Rescue for a Brighter Tomorrow, in conjunction with the Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley. Performance by the Ron Chick Band, Stambaugh Auditorium, Youngstown.
Source: Angels for Animals