Thursday April 5, 2001 - Conway Daily Sun - The Conway Area Humane Society has raised more than $780,000 and needs about $300,000 more to break ground on the 25 acre facility on the eastern edge of Conway Village.
    On Thursday, students at Mountain View Montessori School did their part, presenting executive director Roz Manwaring and board president Anita Burroughs with a check for $210 they raised during "Pennies for Pets" month.
    "The effort and involvement of children can be a wonderful thing," Juliet Fleischer, directress of Mountain View Montessori School, said. "At our school, February was 'Pennies for Pets' month. Each of the kindergarten through second grade children (11 in all) decorated contribution cans with animal pictures and placed them in area businesses with a request for donations for the Conway Area Humane Society. They collected a little over $100. From personal donations of all 34 of our preschool through second grade children and their families, nearly $100 more was collected. The older children counted and wrapped $89 in coins, $41 of which was just pennies. We then charted the money counted and made a graph. It was fun. It spawned terrific math lessons, and it made us feel really good to know we could help. We are proud to present this donation of $210 to assist you in your most worthy cause. Your efforts to provide support services for our animal friends and education for our community is very much needed and appreciated."
    When the humane society center is built, a red brick on the lobby Memory Wall will recognize the school's gift. This brick will be inscribed with three lines of a message the students wish to share with all who enter the building.
    "It is truly exciting to learn that the CAHS is in the minds of many. Last year the Josiah Bartlett Elementary school seventh and eighth grade advisory groups sold candy, bagels, and hot dogs after school to raise funds so that they too will be a permanent part of the CAHS," Manwaring said. "Both Margaret McAllister and Jennifer Keffe's and Margaret Fish and Joe Yanna's advisory groups raised $200 each and will be a part of the Memory Wall. Thank you to all the students who want to see the CAHS up and running and are helping reach that goal."
    As soon as the rest of the $300,000 can be raised, construction will begin on the East Main Street site. "There is no longer any question of if this is going to happen," Burroughs said. "It is only a question of when we do break ground. It's going to happen and it's only a matter of breaking ground."

    Organizers are pleased with the support they have received.

     "This update is two years and fourteen days after the very first article appeared in The Conway Daily Sun asking the community what it thought of the idea of an all-inclusive animal care facility for the Mount Washington Valley�The answer was yes," Manwaring said, smiling.
    "This facility consisting of an animal shelter, learning center, and boarding kennel, because of its size and flexibility will be able to offer many new services and programs to the community not normally associated with a traditional humane society. The boarding kennel, while supplementing income for the facility, also allows us to offer the many programs planned for people in crisis who need housing for their companion animals."
    Manwaring said the humane society will be offering a wide array of educational and social programs as well as helping approximately 1,000 homeless animals per year. The society will have an open-door policy welcoming all animals and networking with other organizations to help those they cannot house -- large animals, etc. Manwaring's goal is to help every animal that comes to the door.
    "We have $785,321 in gifts and pledges from over 200 donors to date, we're over the halfway point," she said. "We have, of course, paid for the land, the "gatehouse," and the building design. So, all the pieces of this huge puzzle are falling into place. The board of directors has determined that with $300,000 more in the bank, we will break ground."
    Manwaring said several rooms at the center have been adopted, including a cat room, cat isolation room, puppy room, two dog adoption rooms, cat exercise room, learning center, cat lobby display, gatehouse, and dog holding area.
    "The dog-holding area has been named after two dogs, Bogey and Rosey, that were rescued and got a second chance," she said. "They picked the important dog-holding area to help other dogs get their second chance. This area is where the dogs coming into the CAHS will live as their needs are determined and they are readied for adoption and a new life.
    "The 'gatehouse,' which will be home to the caretaker, will be the Harrison Gatehouse named by Lynn Harrison of Bridgton, Maine, and her mother Martha of San Rafael, Calif.," Manwaring continued. "This project is attracting support from people with varied interests and passions. As Lynn says, 'To name just one of the appealing aspects of the CAHS, I am particularly excited about the concept of providing shelter for pets whose owners would not otherwise leave an abusive setting; fearing the pet's safety.' Working with the Starting Point, the local domestic violence organization, the CAHS will house the animal victims of abuse, so that the family too can get to shelter."
    The guardian program allows people to entrust their pets to the humane society in their wills. Six pet owners have already taken advantage of it.
    To date, Conway Area Humane Society has received four grant awards from foundations and has eleven more proposals pending and several more to submit. Gifts have come from Alaska to Florida and California to New York.
    "Together we have an opportunity to create a truly amazing community center that will work for a more humane world," Manwaring said.