From staff reports
Tri-County Animal Rescue Center in Shippenville recently formed partnerships with two local agencies, Valley Advantages, and Abraxas.
Twice a week staff and clients from Valley Advantages of New Bethlehem travel to the center and spend two hours with the cats and dogs to help socialize them. Socialization is very important for pets and even more important for animals in a shelter setting.
The dogs especially seem to enjoy the visits from Valley Advantages and usually spend the afternoon napping after the visits. Valley Advantages is an agency that works with intellectually disabled individuals.
Every other week four young men from Abraxas in Marienville come to the center and perform various tasks including yard work and deep cleaning in the kennels. The help of these young men enables staff members to spend more time with the cats and dogs and greatly lightens the workload for their volunteers.
Tri-County Animal Rescue Center opened on Dec. 5, 2011, and provides care for homeless cats and dogs in the Clarion, Jefferson, and Forest County areas. They are a non-profit 501(c) 3 organization that relies solely on volunteers and donations to operate the center.
Since 2011, they have placed over 2,000 cats and dogs in loving homes and reunited countless others with their owners. The center also provides three low-cost spay and neuter clinics for members of the community and operates a community food bank that local residents can pick up dog or cat food at no cost once a month to help feed their pets.
Due to COVID-19, the center was unable to hold any fundraisers last year so several fundraisers are being held this year including: I Love Clarion Days crafter event on July 3 in Memorial Park Clarion; Paws N Brews on July 10 at Mechanistic Brewing on Liberty Street in Clarion; International Homeless Animals Day on Aug. 21 at Memorial Park in Clarion; and Mews N Brews on Oct. 2 at Lost In The Wild Brewing in Shippenville.