After a six year capital campaign to raise funds to construct a new animal shelter facility, Paws and Claws Humane Society is breaking ground on its new 7,800 square foot building in Northwest Rochester. This structure will be the organization’s first purpose-built shelter for housing companion animals in its 36-year history. Paws and Claws received tremendous donor support from the public and received over 660 individual pledges from its capital campaign donors. The shelter was designed in cooperation with leading, nationally-recognized animal shelter architectural design and engineering firms. The target date for completion of construction and occupancy date is late May, 2013.

Old tires, a Richard Nixon mask, a refrigerator, and a broken flute case. What do these things have in common? They are just a few of the odd things found in Rochester during the last 5 years of litter clean-ups during the annual Help Make Rochester A Litter Bit Better! event. What will our volunteers find this year? So far, over 64 tons of litter has been collected by thousands of citizens since the program began in 2007. 

This year’s event will be April 21-28th and registration is now open. Volunteers are encouraged to collect litter anytime during that week. Trash and recycling bags are provided, all you need to do is pick a location, pick a date, and pick it up! Registration information, maps and more can be found at www.RNeighbors.org/litterbitbetter.