Animal shelter benefit nets $900

OAKFIELD – The harvest season is nearly over, but the Houlton Humane Society continues to cultivate projects it hopes will reap a significant number of donations.

Representatives from the humane society have launched a number of fundraisers this year as part of its campaign to pay off the debt from opening a new, larger Houlton Animal Shelter on Callaghan Road. The fundraisers also are geared toward gathering money to further enhance the new structure.

The latest fundraiser, a dinner and dance at the Oakfield Community Center on Saturday evening, brought in approximately $900 for the cause. Revelers were entertained by Travis James Humphrey and Tim “The Tune Man” Humphrey.

“It went really well,” Cathy Davis, the humane society’s president, said Monday. “We would have liked to get a bigger crowd, but we were competing with the World Series and bad weather, so that was tough. But everyone had a wonderful time and we have many other fundraisers planned for the future.”

Travis Humphrey, a renowned musician and Houlton native who has shared the stage with Ladysmith Black Mambazo, John Williams, Pete Seeger and others, also will perform at a gospel concert Nov. 25 at the Congregational church in Houlton that also will benefit the humane society.

Proceeds from the fundraisers will be used to retire what is left of its more than $100,000 mortgage debt.

The funding also will help the shelter purchase more cages, complete groundwork and paving, and fund other chores at the new shelter.

The new facility, which is a larger, more durable refuge for stray pets on the same property as the old refuge, held its grand opening in May. Construction took nine months to complete.

The Houlton shelter has contracts with 27 towns in southern Aroostook County.

Right now, Davis said Monday, some animals still are being housed in the old facility. The shelter is housing more than 100 cats right now, but officials are working hard to promote adoptions so they can close that building and avoid heating it all winter.

Details about additional fundraisers will be forthcoming, according to Davis.