Kissinger to chair animal rescue group benefit

WEST CORNWALL >> The Little Guild of St. Francis, the largest animal rescue and adoption organization in Northwest Connecticut, recently announced plans for “Paws to Celebrate,” an event to help sustain the Little Guild’s lifesaving mission.

Nancy Kissinger of Kent, a passionate animal lover and longtime supporter of the Little Guild, will serve as honorary chair of “Paws to Celebrate,” to be held on Saturday, Aug. 13 from 5-7:30 p.m. at the Kent Community House at 93 North Main Street. The event will feature music, food from JAM Food Shop in Sharon, an open bar and an auction.

“The Little Guild has long been our community shelter. I have been delighted to see the Little Guild blossom into an organization that plays an outsized role in saving abused, neglected and unwanted dogs and cats from our area and beyond, and one that serves our community in myriad of important ways,” said Kissinger in a written statement. “The Guild needs our help more than ever.”

In 2015, the Little Guild saved and adopted 515 dogs and cats – more than twice that of any year in its history – while significantly reducing per-animal costs. In addition to local pets, the Little Guild takes in dogs and cats from areas of the country in greatest need, including a struggling shelter in West Virginia, where animals are warehoused in sub-standard conditions.

In a written statement, Debbie Bain of Kent, vice president of the Little Guild, said, “We are enormously proud of our progress over the last 15 months in revitalizing the Little Guild. We have greatly increased our capacity to save animals, enhanced our ability to address their needs once in our care and launched comprehensive efforts to prevent dogs and cats from entering the shelter system in the first place.”

Kent resident Jill Hetson, D.M.D., serves on the Little Guild’s Board of Directors and Marie O’Brien on its board fun-

draising committee. Volunteers include students from the Kent School and South Kent School. Lead Corporate Sponsors of The Little Guild include Barron Financial Group and Klebe Fuel.

New and enhanced programs and initiatives at the Little Guild include: A pet food pantry to provide community access to free dog and cat foo; a trap-neuter-return program to help reduce the feral cat population; the involvement of an experienced shelter behaviorist to help evaluate and develop training plans to make dogs more adoptable; a partnership with the Susan B. Anthony Project to temporarily house or re-home pets of victims of domestic violence; a “Prevent Another Litter” program, where the Little Guild takes in litters of kittens and puppies, has them spayed/ neutered and examined by a veterinarian, spayed/neared and adopted out into good homes, and spays/neuters other adult pets in the household; puppy training classes; expanded foster and volunteer programs; and kids camps and events

The Little Guild of St. Francis opened in Cornwall in 1960 an provides temporary homes for up to 20 dogs and 40 cats at any given time.