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Plenty of Ways to help this holiday season
Reprinted from The Sun/Homer Glen/Lockport/Lemont, Wednesday December 17, 2003
By Janet Lundquist, STAFF WRITER
Babe, a Norweigan elk hound, greets visitors to the Tender Loving care Animal Shelter in Homer Glen during a recent open house. Area animal shelters are in need of funds to help provide for the animals in their care. Sally Washburn, staff photographer
Area animal shelters could probably use money more than anything else, said Janine Carter, director of Tender Loving Care Animal Shelter in Homer Glen.
"A lot of stores will donate broken bags of food, extra cans of food or kitty litter. But with heating and electric and things like that, it's been very difficult," Carter said. "There are medical bills for some of the animals that are brought in that we try to take care of."
Besides money, donations of paper towels, cleaning supplies, bath towels for the dogs, and throw rugs are most helpful, she said. Cut-up wall-to-wall carpeting is generally not good to give to shelters. Dogs can pull the fibers apart and the fibers clog up drains when the carpet is cleaned, Carter said.
Volunteer labor is always welcome, whether it is cleaning out cages or helping staff the shelter or participating in programs, such as TLC's Very Impressive Pets program, in which volunteers bring TLC-approved pets to nursing homes to visit residents.
"I think most shelters would be in agreement that what we need most right now is money," Carter said. "But we can always use extra hands."