by Cathy Davis
www.houltonanimalshelter.com
There is so much going on; I’m hoping to be able to include all of it here! It is so exciting to see so many people doing so much to help the animals! First of all, we have a fabulous original framed
Esther Orr Faulkner painting that was lovingly donated by the artist to help us raise money for the Shelter. We are taking sealed bids for that painting, which is on display at Modern Beauty right now and will be on display at Hollywood Pet Salon in a couple of weeks (both businesses right on Main Street in beautiful downtown Houlton). I can tell you that I already placed my bid for $100 so if you wish to bid on and win this painting, you’ll need to bid higher than $100. Please mail your bid to the Houlton Humane Society, P.O. Box 548, Houlton, Me 04730 and clearly state “BID” on the outside of your envelope. The envelopes will be opened on Dec. 8 and the winning bidder will be notified.
Dec. 8 is the “Homes for the Holidays” event taking place on Main Street and Mechanic Street and will include a winter wonderland for the children, hot soup and sandwiches by local restaurants, and a variety of activities. Right now we are asking for folks to donate homemade apple pies, beef stew, chicken stew and if you have any big outdoor Christmas decorations, please contact Lorraine at Hollywood Pet.
We are pleased to announce that Town and Country Clothing and Footwear has raised their first $100 in the “Wrap it up for the Animals” project. When you purchase an item at Town and Country, they will wrap it for you for free, but they are asking for donations for the Shelter. Their goal is to raise $1,000 this year to help pay down the shelter mortgage. We appreciate the efforts and continued support and if any other business downtown would like to join in, perhaps we can get a challenge going!
There is a craft fair at the Oakfield Community Center Dec. 1 and volunteer Lynn Rondeau will have a table there, selling items with the proceeds to benefit the Shelter. If you have anything you would like to contribute, please contact the Shelter at 532-2862 and they’ll put you in touch with Lynn. Lynn has already earned $200 at her last craft fair and donated all this money to the shelter to buy new Karunda beds for the dog kennels.
Many thanks to Freda Iwulski for her heartfelt appeal in last week’s paper. She has offered to match every $10 donation made to the shelter for a month, up to $1,000. This is an extremely generous offer. If you mail in your donation as a result of this challenge, make sure to clearly mark your donation — how about you put “Iwulski challenge” right on your envelope — so we can keep track of how many donors Freda needs to match! Freda and her husband have been wonderful additions to our Shelter family, volunteering a lot of time to socialize and train dogs, making them more adoptable. If you would like to become involved in this volunteer training program, call the shelter and they’ll put you in touch with Freda so she can build a network of trainers.
Mark Nov. 25 on your calendar for a fabulous old time Gospel event at the Congregational Church. Travis James Humphrey will be performing and the admission is a donation to the Shelter — a bag of cat litter, a box of Clorox Bleach, a cash donation, whatever you would like to bring. This will take place at 4 p.m.
On Nov. 24 there will be an indoor yard sale to benefit the shelter. This will be held at 64 North Street, the old Varney office building, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Possibly the last “yard sale” of the year, and indoors out of the cold!
Most importantly, please remember what all these events are for — we have over 120 animals at the shelter desperately needing new homes. The money will pay for heat, lights, staff, insurance, litter, food, mortgage, but more than anything we just need homes, please consider adoption. We have dozens of kittens, some beautiful older and very mature cats, and all they ask for is a forever home, and lots of tender loving care. And remember, if you already have pets, please make sure they are spayed and neutered.
