On Oct. 17 beginning at 10:30 a.m,. the Chilton County Humane Society will hold a re-dedication ceremony at the shelter.

The shelter is located at 139 Shade Tree Drive in Clanton.

Additionally, a yard sale is being held at the shelter starting at 8 a.m.

Volunteers have painted the shelter inside and out, a more modern logo was designed and painted onto the building and landscaping has replaced a plain bed of rocks.

Shelter director Kimberly Ruck has re-arranged the shelter’s layout to improve the health of the animals, according to a press release.

Humane Society president Krystine Gish has developed additional resources for the shelter and worked with donors to create dynamic programs to improve the shelter’s adoption rates.

Businesses have also donated to the shelter for the improvements including Johnson Control, Mullins Paint and Decorating, Sandra’s Nursery, and Advance Pawn.

Hundreds of volunteer hours and hard work by the staff at the shelter put it all together, according to a press release from the humane society.

October is “Adopt a Shelter Dog Month,” and the humane society also has an ongoing adoption special to celebrate.

A donor, Brian Gwin, sponsored 80 dogs for adoption as long as the adopter makes a minimum $20 donation to the shelter.

The adoption includes spay/neuter, rabies shot (if the dog is old enough), and current on vaccines, microchip, treated for fleas and de-wormed.

So far, the shelter has adopted more than 40 animals, and its Facebook page is filled with photographs of happy animals and their new families leaving together, the release said.

The shelter normally averages 15-20 adoptions a month with 27 being a recent record.

Gwin’s offer has prompted other donors to come forward, some sponsoring one or two dogs, and two anonymous donors have also contributed $1,000 each to sponsor dogs and now cats.

The shelter’s “Partners in Compassion” will also be honored during the ceremony.

These are donors who have helped sponsor an event or have gone the extra mile to help the humane society and the animals.

The partners to be honored are Brian Gwin, Lee Helms, Chris Speaks, Stokes Automotive, Chilton Urgent Care, Lewis Machine Company, and Diana Hiott.

The humane society is now also offering services to the community including micro chipping.

If individuals would like their pets micro chipped, they can bring them to the shelter and one of the trained staff will insert the chip and explain the registration. There is a $20 fee for this service. Dogs must be on a leash and cats must be in a carrier.

In addition to that community service, the humane society has developed TNR (trap, neuter, release) and Barn Cat programs. Executive board member Michelle Monahan heads up this program, according to the release.

In the TNR program, colonies of cats are trapped then transported to the Alabama Spay and Neuter Clinic in Irondale. The cats are spayed or neutered and given a rabies shot. During the surgery, the left ear of the cat is “tipped” so volunteers can easily tell if a cat has already gone through the program. The following day, the cats are returned to their colony where they can no longer increase the colony’s size. If the cats can not be returned to their colony, they can go into the barn cat program, or if they are healthy and friendly they can be adopted, according to the release.

In the Barn Cat program, cats are offered free to people with farms and barns to help keep down the rodent population around their facilities. To receive a free barn cat, a barn inspection is required.

“We are very proud of the improvements we’ve made for the shelter animals and the shelter building and we’d like to share it with the community and hopefully adopt more animals,” board member Katherine Reece said. “With the sponsorships we currently have in place we could empty the shelter.”