Animal Shelter update

To the Editor:

It’s time for a fall update on what has been happening at the Carl Nettifee Memorial Animal Shelter, operated by the Martin County Humane Society (MCHS). This year has definitely been challenging for everyone. We closed the shelter to the public for several weeks in the spring. Unlike many shelters throughout the state, we chose not to empty our building of dogs and cats. We continued adoptions of our animals on an appointment only basis and it worked very well. We were all happy to be able to open our doors again. Several of our yearly fundraisers had to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 virus. We did hold our annual June golf outing and our September animal walk, both on a very scaled back level. A lot of businesses have suffered so much and without the support of our wonderful donors, near and far away, we have been able to hold our own. And for that, we are extremely grateful. November 19 is the annual statewide “Give to the Max” donation day for registered non-profit organizations. MCHS has been a part of this since 2015. For more information, go to www.givemn.org, click on search for a cause, enter our location (Fairmont, MN) and click on Martin County Humane Society. You do not have to wait until the 19th to do this. Early donations began on Nov. 1. We thank you in advance for thinking of us.

The summer and fall have seen some much-needed projects completed. Our major project was re-doing our outside dog runs. Tiling was done to eliminate the standing water problem we have had for years. New 6′ fencing and gates was installed so we now have seven runs instead of the previous four. This was made possible from donations by the Betty Maday family, Carl and Verna Schmidt Foundation, City of Fairmont, county of Martin, and the Martin County Area Foundation. Thank you to S & J Excavating, Boltjes Fencing, Trackworks of Sleepy Eye for donating new railroad ties, all the city workers that helped and to Laurence Lau for overseeing all of this.

The other major project was new wire dog kennels to the west of our building. This was the undertaking of John McMenimen of Windom, a young man working for his Eagle Scout badge. John raised all the necessary funds from his family and friends. On Saturday, Oct. 3, John, his family and lots of recruited volunteers showed up. They tore out all the old fencing and replaced with new, larger kennels for our smaller breed dogs. Thanks to all.

And thanks to Jacob Lueth of Fairmont, also working on his Eagle Scout badge, who designed and built four dog houses complete with exercise steps. The dogs love them.

The last word of thanks goes to all the friends of Martin County Humane Society that continue to support us in so many ways. We have the most amazing employees, our many, many volunteers are priceless and our donors are the heartbeat of our organization. Without all of you, we would not exist.

Nancy Fetters

Treasurer, MCHS

Fairmont