After ten years of gathering donations totalling approximately half a million dollars to fund their new and improved facilities, the folks at the Calhoun County Humane Society welcomed visitors to the grand opening of their new home, located at 106 Haley Lane in Port Lavaca, on the 21st of last month. Built on 3 acres and boasting 4 outdoor arenas, currently used as exercise areas for their 4-legged boarders, there is ample room for future expansion.

Everyone at the Calhoun County Humane Society, including volunteers, Janice Holiday and Kim Tatum, look forward to the continued generosity of Humane Society supporters with monetary donations sufficient to allow them to add a part-time permanent staff member to be on-site Monday through Friday for four hours each day, however; all donations are appreciated, whether they be money, time and/or labor, or goods needed. If you’d like to support our friends at the humane society but aren’t in a position to donate cash, one alternative method is fulfilling the “Full Bowl Challenge” by donating, and delivering one, or more, bags of qualifying food to the Calhoun County Humane Society each month for 12 months. The following items qualify for this challenge:

1. Purina Dog Chow Complete, 50-lb minimum;
2. Purina Puppy Chow, 32-lb minimum;
3. Purina Cat Chow Indoor, 20-lb minimum; and
4. Purina Kitten Chow , 14-lb minimum

Individual and group donors who complete the challenge, will have a food bowl, personalized with their name, proudly displayed on the facility’s wall of “Full Bowl Heroes”.

Another way to donate, should you have the means to provide financial support, comes with “naming opportunities”: In preparation for the move to the new facility, our local humane society offered donors the opportunity to name 18 areas of the new shelter by making pre-determined substantial donations which provide for the display of donor names in designated areas. At this time, only half of the naming opportunity areas are fulfilled (or named) leaving nine areas open for naming.

A great example, showcasing a fulfilled naming opportunity can be seen as you step through the facility’s front door into the Naomi S. Albrecht Lobby. A paw-print Lobby sign bearing Ms. Albrecht’s name hangs on the wall to the immediate left of the entrance. Ms. Albrecht’s daughter, Janice Stalder, provided a signed original painting of Ms Albrecht’s that will hang underneath the Lobby sign.

Ms. Albrecht was one of the most-loved and well-respected women Calhoun County has known. She served as a board member on the Calhoun County Humane Society’s Board of Directors for many years while teaching at Port O’Connor Elementary, and later, taking on a different role in education, by becoming the school’s principal. The move to principal rounded out a long and distinguished career in education.

Please contact the Calhoun County Humane Society for additional information regarding “Naming Opportunities,’ still available and any form requirements they may have.

Normally, forms required for adopting, donating, and volunteering could be accessed by visiting the Calhoun County Humane Society’s website but, they are in the process of creating a new and improved website to go with their new and improved shelter facility so, all forms may not be readily available via the website for now. Those looking for information might check out the society’s Facebook page, the yellow pages online or similar sites/services. According to Janice Holiday, telephoning them is not currently a good contact method since they have had serious issues with telephone service for three plus months, with no resolution in sight at the time of this writing. Once the phone issues are resolved, you can call them at 361-553-8916.

Lastly, but certainly not least, should you wish to adopt or to donate your time and volunteer at the facility, please contact Janice Holiday or Kim Tatum by leaving a message/post on the Calhoun County Humane Society’s Facebook page or by heading on over to 106 Haley Lane in Port Lavaca to personally visit with someone on-site and get a gander at their new digs.