By Jay Lutz

Mower County Humane Society

As a small all-volunteer non-profit, the Mower County Humane Society relies heavily on donations to continue to operate the shelter.

But did you know that a lot of our support comes from non-monetary donations? For example supporters often drop off supplies like paper towels, laundry detergent, garbage bags, or other items from the wish list posted on our website.

If you would like to see the list you can visit our website at mowercountyhumanesociety.org.

Sometimes donations come in the form of services. Thanks to the generous support of Y-Waste Removal and owner Dave Yerhart, we don’t have to worry about our garbage pickup service, which he recently began donating.

By the way, Dave, thanks also for staying in business. This provides competitive pricing for garbage pickup service for all residents in our area.

We also work in cooperation with the county’s Sentence to Serve program to maintain the lawn and run yard areas at the shelter.  Thanks to supervisor Bill Klingerman and his crew we are able to avoid hiring this work out.

Due to other commitments and limited resources they cannot always consistently make it to mow the property so that’s where great volunteers like Liz Coughlin, Jerry Rickerl and Sean Lutz come in.

This summer Liz, Jerry and Sean have stepped up and filled in with the mowing duties when the Sentence to Serve crew is unavailable. Sometimes we receive donations from local groups.

Recently some of our volunteers and animals visited the Shamrock Zone at Pacelli Child Care. Annette and Bailey Mueller, Liz Coughlin and Maggie Leif talked to the kids about what the Humane Society does and about animal care.

In return, the kids presented them with dog and cat toys, bird seed and various supplies. In addition they donated $200 raised from washing cars and collecting cans. A huge thanks to all the kids and teachers at the Shamrock Zone from all the animals and volunteers at the Humane Society, we really appreciate your continued support.

 Memorials

We would like to gratefully acknowledge the following memorials we have received in memory of:  Carol Foster, Dr. R. Harned Isele, Hilda Voge, Don Wagner, Shirley Burton, Verlet Florland, Gordie Kilmer and “Norton” the Shepweiler.

 Walk for Animals

Our 19th annual Walk-for-the-Animals fundraiser is coming up on Sunday, Sept. 13. The event is at the Horace Austin Park pavilion located next to the Mill Pond trail.

There will again be hot dogs, drawing prizes, and appearances by many Mower County Humane Society alumni animals. There will be tiered prizes for the three levels of pledge collecting and also grand prizes for the top fundraisers, including a youth category.

Pledge sheets for the fundraiser can be picked up at the Austin Public Library, the Austin Vet Clinic, Double-K Specialties, and at the shelter. Our open house hours are from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Tuesdays and from 2 to 4 p.m. Sundays.

If you would like to receive our quarterly newsletter electronically via email just send an email with “newsletter” in the subject line to mchs.secretary@yahoo.com.