Vance County is building a new animal shelter.  Vance County Commissioners, Vance County Animal Control, The Ruin Creek Animal Protection Society and The U.S. Department of Agriculture along with local volunteers and citizens celebrated at a groundbreaking ceremony.  The ceremony began at 10:00 A.M. Thursday, January 21, 2016 on Brodie Road.

Vance County Chairman of the Board of Commissioners, Gordon Wilder, welcomed those in attendance and introduced the speakers.  He said he was most grateful for the folks who have propelled this forward, especially Charles and Mary Boyd.  He said you have to give a lot of credit to Frankie Nobles, Chief Animal Control Officer, and how Nobles and his staff have fostered relationships in the community.  Wilder said the work of Nobles and his staff has helped our community stay out of trouble with state officials.  Wilder said this project is a “testament to how this area is moving forward and upward.”

Past-Chairman of the Board of Commissioners, Archie B. Taylor, Jr., said the board had been working for nine years to reach this point.  He said the County’s existing shelter was far behind the shelters of neighboring counties.  Taylor thanked Charles and Mary Boyd, who were in attendance and who donated the land for the new shelter, and he thanked The Ruin Creek Animal Protection Society for dreaming up this project and all the volunteer work the society does in Vance County and Henderson.

Alan Hedgepeth of The Ruin Creek Animal Protection Society said it had been a long journey and thanked the commissioners for securing funding.  The USDA will be the long-term financier of the project.  Hedgepeth said the new shelter would greatly increase the care of animals while they wait for forever homes.  Ruin Creek Animal Protection specializes in fostering animals as well as seeing to it that animals are treated and adopted out to permanent and healthy homes.  Hedgepeth encouraged those in attendance to foster, to adopt and to give donations if they wanted to help.

Nobles indicated that the existing circumstances at the old shelter and that the knowledge that a new shelter would be open next year at this time were emotional for the shelter staff.  He said the support and donations were amazing, and it was amazing how much the community had gotten behind this plan and this dream.  Nobles said to those in attendance, “You are the ones that made this happen.”

Nobels described Dr. Patricia Norris, DVM as “the top lady at the shelter.”  Norris of NC Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services praised the shelter staff for the tremendous job it has done at the existing facility.  She said the new shelter “will benefit the animals (and in doing so) will improve the quality of life for every person in the community.”

Lee Bodenhamer with Waste Industries, Inc. presented a check towards the project for $10,000.00.  He spoke of Waste Industries’ work in the community and talked about how the company wanted to take part in the social responsibility aspect of helping building a new shelter.  He indicated that in 2014 Waste Industries started the “Full Circle Project.”  As he described it, Waste Industries customers were surveyed, and the top place they said to donate funds was animal rescue.  Over 26 percent of respondents indicated animal rescue.  Bodenhamer said he hoped this gift was just the beginning.

The official groundbreaking was then held and those in attendance socialized before departing.

(Editor’s Note — WIZS is pleased to present this news story and to help recognize those in attendance and those who have worked so hard.  While the story was presented the same day on the radio, it has just now been published online.  We apologize for the delay.  Recent winter weather consumed extra time, and we had wanted this to be presented without distractions caused by the weather because the new shelter construction and the teamwork it has taken to get to this point are very important. — John C. Rose)