Animals hoping for homes

EPHRATA - Roughly 10 to 20 photos of dogs and cats are going to be hanging from a tree in the window of an Ephrata pet shop.

All of the animals are available to be adopted at shelters and rescues in Grant and Adams counties.

The Giving Tree at Ephrata's The Pet Shop is an effort by owner Jennifer Beck to support animal shelters and rescues in Grant and Adams counties. The tree is expected to be up today and will remain until Christmas at the store located at 21 Basin Street SW. 

"A lot of the rescues need things and a lot of the people in the area need help this time of year and we're a pet store, so we should do something for the pets," she said. "Safeway, Walmart (and other business), they all do Toys-for-Tots, I thought it was a really cool idea but we don't really have anything like that for the animals."

The cards contain photographs of dog and cat shelters and rescues such as the Grant County Animal Outreach and the Adams County animal shelter. Written on the back is a list of items the animal needs.

"We'll put their adoption information inside of it and people can adopt them," Beck said. "On the back will be a little (message stating,) 'Please sponsor me,' with a small list of things that they need."

They found the animals through PetFinder.com and through private rescues in the counties, Beck said. Some of the items needed include food, cat litter, cat boxes, bleach for disinfection, toys, collars, leashes and blankets.

"With the winter coming up, the rescues really need a lot of sweaters and winter gear for little, tiny dogs," she said.

Grant County Animal Outreach Manager Carmon Derting mentioned similar items, saying the shelter has been consistently receiving new animals. The shelter is presently housing about 60 dogs and about 40 cats.

"We're pretty full," she said. "The donations help us immensely because we're able to put the money toward other items the animals need instead of the food."

The donations allow the shelter to spend money on vaccines and medical supplies.

People can bring the items they want to donate directly to the shelter or rescue, or to the store and they will distribute them to shelters.

"The day after Christmas, we'll go and distribute anything that we get," Beck said. "People are really tight at the holidays and the donations really slow down, but we're hoping that something like this will really help."