Founder’s Day 2024: How you can help the Animal Friends of North Central West Virginia

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WBOY) — For Nexstar’s Founder’s Day of Caring later this June, the 12 News crew will be volunteering at animal shelters across north central West Virginia, one of which is Animal Friends of North Central West Virginia (AFNCWV) in Monongalia County.

AFNCWV has served Monongalia County for about 25 years and is a “no-kill” shelter, meaning that its staff doesn’t euthanize animals to create space.

Shelter Coordinator Katie Short said that the AFNCWV visits local animal control facilities that do euthanize and pulls the animals directly from there. “We don’t have a public intake, so we end up just going in and taking cats and dogs, and small animals from those situations as unclaimed strays or owner surrenders,” she added.

AFNCWV is directly funded by the Animal Friends Thrift Shoppe located inside of the Mountaineer Mall “so any of the donations and purchases made directly there go to support our funds, and things needed here for our daily operations,” said Short.

Short said that AFNCWV takes all sorts of donations: including clothing items, workout equipment, furniture, as well as other miscellaneous household items. They then take these donations and sell them throughout the week on the shelter’s days of operations, with the proceeds going back into the shelter.

The shelter is also planning to use these funds to build an additional shelter due to some of the wear and tear that has affected their current facilities. “We’ve kind of outgrown the space now…we’re looking to build a more efficient and sturdier shelter,” Short said.

Throughout the summer, AFNCWV will be hosting fundraising opportunities to help raise additional funds that will go towards the new shelter. Short said that they have a lot of things planned, including an opportunity for people to share shelter naming options.

Short told 12 News that AFNCWV is also looking for plenty of volunteers to help staff the Animal Friends Sanctuary as well as the Animal Friends Thrift Shoppe. She said that Thrift Shoppe volunteers can help with cashier duties including stocking, pricing, and sorting donations.

Over at the sanctuary, Short said that the work consists of “lots of socializing, dog walking, just hanging out with the kittens and cats, scooping litter pans, feeding, cleaning, laundry…just the daily needs here at the shelter.”

The Animal Friends Sanctuary currently houses about 45 cats and 30 dogs, so they’re eagerly looking to get some of the animals adopted. “Adoptions are kind of slow in the summertime, so we are looking to get those guys adopted rather quickly. So that just opens up more space for more animals that are needed to be pulled from the facilities that we work with,” Short added.

The adoption process is handled online through the Animal Friends of North Central West Virginia’s website .

If you’re looking to volunteer with the shelter, you can give them a call at (304) 290-4738 or send an email to afwvdirector@gmail.com.

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