The Green Hills Animal Shelter will be able to open a facility in Trenton following the donation of the former Orscheln Farm and Home Building on East 10th Street.
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The donation, appraised at $237,500, was made official this week, with Orscheln Manager Mark Acton handing over the keys this morning to Dr. Gayla Whittle, president of the GHAS Board of Directors, while several other board members and supporters watched.
The organization has spent the past several years holding fund-raisers and seeking donations to open a shelter. The former Maggie’s Mess building on Seventh Street was donated to the board from Jim and Maggie Bush and has served as a headquarters for several years, allowing the board to hold obedience classes, fund-raiser auctions and other events at the site. The board will now likely seek to sell that structure and use the proceeds to help make improvements to the Orscheln building.
“This is where we are going to put the shelter,” said Dr. Whittle. “We’ll have to make some changes. We’ll need to put up walls and kennels. There will be extensive renovations needed before we can actually open.”
Dr. Whittle said the organization has raised about $100,000 so far, which may seem like a lot, but will go quickly when renovations start and the actual operation of the facility gets going. But today’s donation moves the group several steps in the right direction.
“With this donation and the money we can get from the other building, we can really get started. We are so much closer than we’ve ever been,” Dr. Whittle said, noting that the board will meet soon and begin making plans.
Tax-deductible donations can be made to the Green Hills Animal Shelter at PO Box 574, Trenton, MO 64683.