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Fire District 12 To Show Support For “Man’s Best Friends”
03/19/09
For Immediate Release
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Firefighters from St. Tammany Fire District 12 will join parish residents and officials at the St. Tammany Humane Society on Friday, March 20, as the Humane Society participates in a competition for a $1 million extreme makeover of its facility.
Judges of the nationwide zootoo.com contest will be at the Humane Society, located at the corner of Harrison Avenue (Dog Pound Road) and 5th Street, to assess the needs of the facility and the community’s support of the Humane Society’s efforts. The St. Tammany Humane Society was selected after more than 6,300 local residents voted for it on http://www.zootoo.com, making it the third-highest recipient of votes in the nation.
“We only had to make the top twenty to go into phase two of the contest and we ranked third,” said Humane Society’s director Vaughn Maurice. “We’re thankful for the community because we could use the makeover.”
Judges, ZooToo House President Richard Thompson and Project Manager Courtney Lucignano, are scheduled to arrive at 12:45 on Friday. They will also visit the facilities of the other contestants, and will then chose 10 of the 20 finalists to enter the final round of voting. Thompson and Lucignano will base their rankings on which shelters they feel need the most financial help and which ones have the most community support.
“We’re happy to participate in this worthwhile community event,” said Fire District 12 Chief Darrell Guilott. “Hopefully our presence will convey to the judges that the Humane Society has broad community support.”
Firefighters will be present to help children of all ages explore the District’s engine and rescue equipment.
“Maybe we’ll even find a Dalmatian or two to adopt for our fire stations,” Guilott said, referring to the long-ago tradition of fire station mascots.
Maurice said that he’s expecting a lot of the on-line voters as well as parish officials and media to attend. As for the need of repair, he says the building speaks for itself.
“It’s old. It definitely needs some love. There are rooms in the building that flood every time it rains, so there is mold damage,” said Maurice. “We own the property across the street so we’re talking about just building a new facility. It would be more comfortable for the animals.”
Once the top 10 have been chosen, animal lovers can go on-line and vote for the shelter of their choice.
Media are invited and encouraged to attend this important community event.
Media contact: James Hartman, 504.458.4600 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
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