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Get involved, build a dog house to protect a dog in need this winter... Dog House Derby is November 10th

On November 10, 2018 the efforts of several community groups will culminate in a first-ever event dubbed Dog House Derby!
In just over two weeks, people from various areas of our county will meet at the City Pavilion in Shelby to put their building skills to the test as they construct dog houses for dogs in need. Cleveland County Animal Control, Burns Chapter Habitat for Humanity Club, and Association for the Welfare of Animals (AWA) have combined their knowledge, skills, and abilities to shelter dogs from the encroaching winter weather. As they have been on the organizing end of this project, they have also been on the working end of it, and Jake Self, president of the Burns club (the first in the county) has been able to assist in the recruitment of help from both Crest High School and Turning Point Academy.
Jake and CTE instructors at Burns contacted other Cleveland County Schools, and those CTE instructors at Crest and Turning Point saw this as they did, a wonderful opportunity to meet the needs of the students' curriculum as well as an opportunity to serve the community. Since the beginning of the 2018/2019 school year, the carpentry classes at Burns, Crest, and Turning Point Academy have been cutting out dog house "kits" which will be delivered to the City Pavilion on November 10 where volunteers will meet to assemble them. Once completed, the houses (along with accessories that will ensure optimum comfort for the dog and optimum longevity of the house) will be delivered to the dog owner, and dogs will be saved from exposure to the cold weather conditions through the upcoming winter months.
Association for the Welfare of Animals has been providing housing to dogs for many years, but has never been able to provide many due to the prohibitive cost and limited manpower. AWA's preference for dog house material is wood, but without the manpower to build the houses it prefers, the organization has had to settle for manufactured, plastic ones (good, but not ideal). Some of the cost of Dog House Derby has been borne by generous area businesses, however, there are still roofing materials and hardware needed to complete the project. Though a wooden dog house is better protection from extreme weather, it is not necessarily less expensive than plastic.
Please consider contributing to Dog House Derby. There are several ways to do so: make a tax-deductible monetary donation to Association for the Welfare of Animals (P.O. Box 564, Shelby, NC 28151); join or form a building crew to help construct houses on November 10 between 8AM and 6PM ; or loan hand tools for use by building crews for this one-of-a kind project.
Association for the Welfare of Animals (AWA) is a local, all-volunteer, 501(C)(3), animal welfare organization operating in Cleveland and surrounding counties. It pays no employees. Any gift you give to AWA is tax-deductible and is frugally spent on animals and the AWA programs that help them. Please call 704-487-6555 for more information on Dog House Derby or any other AWA programs.
Submitted by Alison Still


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