Readers help make Shelter Drive a great success

When Joe Perry opened the back gate on the Cole Harley-Davidson trailer, a dozen sets of eyes appeared to be transfixed on a trailer filled with bags and cans of pet food, kitty litter, cleaning supplies, pet toys, bedding materials, pet treats and more.

“This represents a great response from the readers of Prerogative and Bluefield Daily Telegraph,” Samantha Perry, editor of the Bluefield Daily Telegraph, said. “This is the fifth year of our shelter drive, and the level of compassion that our readers have for the pets in our local shelters continues to amaze me.”

Representatives of Second Chance for Cats, Pet Haven, the McDowell County Humane Society, the Tazewell County Animal Shelter and the Mercer County Animal Shelter converged on the Daily Telegraph parking lot at 12 noon on Saturday, eager to pick up the pet supplies donated by readers.

Darlene Little and Elizabeth McDonald of the Second Chance for Cats located in the Bluefield Union Mission have been helping find homes for unwanted pets since 2008, but last year, the organization established a pet food bank at the Union Mission to help families that are down on their luck get cat and dog food to help them through the hard times.

“Of course, the real solution to the pet over-population is to donate to the Mercer County Spay and Neuter Association,” Little said. “Their address is P.O. Box 1992 Princeton, WV 24740.”

Billy Smith, the husband of Debbie Smith of Pet Haven, was on hand to transport the food back to Pet Haven. “This keeps us going,” he said. “The place where she keeps the pets is up on a hill, and in the winter, it’s hard to get a vehicle up there. We wind up having to carry food up to the animals in the winter. This donation coming at a time when we can get a vehicle up there really helps us a lot.”

Sharon Saggity of the McDowell County Humane Society said that since they operate on donations alone, the donation of pet food from the Prerogrative/Daily Telegraph drive means a lot to them.

“We really appreciate this,” Saggity said. “That’s how we’re able to help so many pets until we can get them into forever homes. We’re making a difference in the number of unwanted pets in our county. We are just a small group, but we’re like a family. That’s how we can do what we do.”

Larry Nipper, veteran Tazewell County animal control officer, was picking up supplies for the Tazewell County Animal Shelter. “This really helps the dogs and cats,” Nipper said.

Quadonna Shaffer, kennel tech at the Mercer County Animal Shelter said that the donation is really helpful to the efforts in Mercer County. “We run out of 50-60 pounds of dog and cat food per day,” Shaffer said. “This helps get a little further into the winter, and that really makes a big difference.”

“We brought in more than a ton of food and supplies this year ... literally,” Samantha Perry said. “I’m very excited that we raised a ton of food and supplies this year.”

Perry said that readers donated 1,225 pounds of dog food, 520 pounds of cat food, 180 pounds of cat litter, 77 assorted bags of dog and cat treats, more than 115 dog and cat toys, 40 to 50-plus bedding supplies and 50-plus cleaning supplies.

Telegraph staff members including Sue Richmond, Charles Owens, Greg Jordan and Kate Coil assisted with loading the trucks.