COMMODORE MEDIA GROUP

After the Oxford Lafayette Humane Society decided to not renew their contract with the city in August of last year, a new shelter was approved only two months later. Mississippi Critterz is a no-kill, nonprofit shelter that was established just last year that aims to improve the lives of homeless animals in LOU community.

Gail Brown, president of the board of directors at the shelter, has been there since the beginning. Before they even moved into the shelter, MS Critterz took animals in starting June 2018 and put them in foster homes throughout the Oxford-Lafayette community.

“At that time, our goal was to work towards raising funds to build a shelter,” Brown said, “but then OLHS didn’t renew their contract and we took it.”

Jenn Petermann is a recent addition to the team, as just was only volunteering back in December. Now, she is the shelter director and wants the community to get involved and support them. Spaying and neutering is on the front page, according to her, in order to decrease the number of strays.

“We want to see the no kill shelter move forward,” Petermann said, “and we believe it can be done.”

Petermann says that they welcome any donation drive with open arms, as they need things from basics like Clorox to dog food to office paper. She is grateful to the Anchor Club for thinking of them and the animals. All donations are appreciated and helpful.

“We would encourage a lot of  students to come on out if they want to be involved with the shelter,” Petermann said. “We always love to see volunteers to come help us out.”

Senior Morgan Wethington is president of the Anchor Club and is spearheading the operation. She came up with the idea because the club volunteered at the animal shelter last year, but she and Mrs. Dempsey, adviser of Anchor Club, decided to do a supply drive to mix things up.

“I volunteered there a few times,” Wethington said, “and that’s been the real reason, because I love animals.”

The shelter is really in need of various supplies, including dog food, beds, leashes, and blankets. Students had two weeks to bring in the items, as it started Feb. 4th and ran to the 18th. Wethington had a goal to bring in a lot of items to make the shelter a better place.

“We would love if the entire school would come together as a community and help out the society,” Wethington said.