Unusual gifts

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2000:

Daniel Hollihan, 10, of Coos Bay, Oregon, collected 150 pounds of cat litter, 30 pounds of pet food, two bags of animal toys, food dishes, and a scratching post for the Coos County Animal Shelter by requesting items for the shelter instead of birthday gifts. Hollihan said he had thought about the idea since he was five, when he was saddened by the conditions he saw while adopting a dog.

The Tri-County Humane Society in St. Cloud, Minnesota, has received $1 million from the estate of local banker I r e n e Wilson, who died in 1998, five days after her 98th birthday and five months after adopting a five-year-old female tabby cat from the TCHS shelter. The cat now lives with one of Wilson’s former nurses. The adoption and a few small donations were her only known involvement with TCHS. Interest from the bequest is expected to increase the TCHS annual budget by about 25%.

The Toledo Animal Shelter Associa t i o n has received a $1.3 million trust fund plus $30,000 cash from the estate of former University of Toledo English professor Alice Huebner, who died in May 1999. Newly elected TASA president Barney Stickles told Toledo Blade staff writer Betsy Hiel that the bequest would enable the shelter to go no-kill.

Mountain Peoples Warehouse n a tural food distributors Judi and Michael Funk, of Nevada City, California, recently bought eight acres for the Golden Empire Humane Society as site for a no-kill shelter