Humane Society fundraiser runs until Oct. 31

The Lawrence County Humane Society is having a shoe drive to help both humans and cats.

Until Oct. 31, they are asking people to donate either new shoes or gently-worn shoes. The goal is to collect 1,000 pairs of shoes.

And once the shoes are collected, the whole lot of them will be weighed and then the Humane Society will get money based on the total weight of the shoes.

Laura Brown, a trustee with the Lawrence County Humane Society, said the group will use the money to help control the feline population in the county, with the funds going towards the spay and neuter of feral cats.

“What we are asking people to do, since we really can’t fund raise for our furry friends, is to put shoe donations in a plastic bag and drop them at certain locations and we will pick them up weekly,” she said.

The drop off points include any of the Briggs Library locations in Lawrence County, the Lawrence County Animal Shelter in Ironton and Iron City Hardware. They can also be given to Humane Society members.

Besides spay and neutering, the funds will also go to take care of the felines at the cat manor at the animal shelter.

“We have no funding for cats. So, if we do the spay and neutering we can cut down on the cat colonies,” Brown said. “And the cat manor doesn’t get any funding from the commissioners or anything like that. So, food, litter, medicine, vet bills or that kind of thing, we need to raise money for it.”

Once collected, the shoes will go to a warehouse in central Florida and, from there, Funds2Orgs, a non-profit social enterprise, redistributes the shoes to their microenterprise partners to start their own business to support their families.

Brown said boots go to people in colder climes of the United States, the sandals go to warmer places like Africa and shoes go to a variety of places.