HOULTON, Maine — The Halfway Home Pet Rescue in Caribou was one of the recipient of this year’s Bangor Savings Bank Community Matters More grant, receiving $1,000.
Each year, through this program, Bangor Savings Bank’s foundation gives a total of $100,000 to Maine non-profit organizations by asking Maine residents to cast votes for groups that matter the most to them.
According to Lori Weston, relationship manager for the Houlton branch of Bangor Savings Bank, eligible non-profit organizations must be a registered 501 c(3) and be Maine-based, or have operating offices in the state. The organization’s programs must be open to anyone. Selected non-profit groups are listed on a ballot, and space also is left for “write-ins.”
“The Halfway Home Pet Rescue won as a result of a write-in effort from their enthusiastic and dedicated supporters,” Weston said.
According to the group’s website, the Halfway Home Pet Rescue is dedicated to improving the quality of life for stray animals in Aroostook County. “We focus our mission on the rescue and rehabilitation of cats and kittens from Caribou and surrounding communities who are not eligible for admission to other area shelters. HHPR provides medical care, social and emotional rehabilitation through our foster home network and a safe haven that is ‘half way home.’”
The shelter will use the funds to help cover medical bills for stray, feral and abandoned cats in the Caribou area.
“It [the grant] has allowed HHPR volunteers to rescue many feral cats from a farmer whose barn collapsed last winter due to the roof being loaded with snow,” said Norma Milton, a board member for the shelter. “With this generous grant, we were able to re-capture eight feral cats that had been spayed/neutered by HHPR years ago and this capture allowed us to return them to a vet for a tune-up, rid them of fleas and worms, treat wounds, give them dental care. They are currently residing at our president’s shed in her backyard until a new barn is built.”
Some of those cats had been with this particular farmer for 10 years, Milton added.
