Director asks for support

To the editor:
The Jay County Humane Society has steadily been expanding their programs to help the community. We already provide care for many homeless dogs and cats, spaying and neutering, vaccinating, medicating and micro-chipping them, then housing them until good homes can be found. We also offer a transport to a low cost spay/neuter clinic in Fort Wayne once a month to help local people obtain these services more affordably. We set up booths at many public events, offering education on animal issues. We take calls from the public on a wide array of topics and direct them as best we can. We check on neglected and abused animals in the community, providing assistance and education to the owners when needed. Plus we help to reunite lost pets with their owners any time we can. The Humane Society is also hoping to improve our community outreach programs, including going to schools and nursing homes and helping Scout troops and 4H Clubs get the badges or other opportunities they need.
We have always had good support from our community, and this has grown in the last couple of years. For this we are tremendously grateful. Anyone who has adopted an animal, donated in any way or recommended us to a friend, members and cage sponsors, board members, our loyal employees, volunteers who donate their own time, those who have listed us in wills or endowments, businesses who have hosted fundraisers for us, who allow us to keep a donation box on their counter, who give us discounts in services or who support us in other ways, events who have given us educational booths free of charge, and all the others who have helped us in ways both small and large — we want to thank you. Without you, we could not do what we do. Our community does have a lot of good-hearted animal lovers, and we greatly appreciate it!
At this time, however, our funding is running dangerously low. We occasionally have times like this, where donations slow to a trickle because people are otherwise occupied or low on cash themselves. We do have a few fundraisers coming up soon, but we also urgently need outside donations if we are to continue doing what we do. We always say, it doesn’t matter how big or small, we appreciate them all. Your spare change in a donation box, along with others who frequent that business, all adds up to help pay the bills. A membership runs $30 a year for an adult, and we offer discounts for youth, seniors and couples. You can mail a check to the shelter at PO Box 101, Portland, IN, 47371, or bring a donation in to the shelter.
If you are attending the Family Fun Night at the Jay County Community Center on April 5, they will be collecting donations for us. On Saturday, April 6, you can get lunch or supper at the Portland Pizza King, as they are generously giving us 10 percent of all proceeds that day. We also take donations online by Paypal (at jbshelter@ yahoo.com). You could even get a hold of our board members or myself to see about donating. We appreciate anything you wish to give.
If you would like to donate towards our future, we also now have a “Building Fund” set up. It is an investment account managed by Raymond James and is intended to help us expand at a new location. Our building is old, outdated and very small. We are very limited on the amount of animals we can take in, and must turn many away when we are full. We hope in the near future to obtain (or have donated) a 10-plus acre plot on the edge of town to build a new, much larger shelter. This will make us easier to find and much more able to help the community. If you would like to donate towards this fund, list it in a will or give other types of contribution, please contact Annette at Raymond James here in Portland.
Again, thanks so much for all your support!
Tara Drumm,
executive director/
shelter manager,
Jay County
Humane Society[[In-content Ad]]