Students from Portage Lakes Career Center volunteer their time and skills to help local animal rescuers construct kennels

A group of Portage Lakes Career Center students recently volunteered their time and their manpower to construct dog kennels for the community. The need for the kennels became more pressing when an arrangement was made between the village of Lakemore and Springfield Township. Under the agreement, known as The Lakemore Dogs Homeward Bound program, dogs found in Springfield Township will now be housed in the Lakemore facility until owners can be found. The new kennels will help local law enforcement by reducing the amount of time they spend transporting dogs found without their owners. Previously, any roaming dog found in Springfield Township had to be transported by officers to Summit County Animal Shelter. This process takes up valuable police officer time and often causes unnecessary stress to dogs by placing them in a shelter, when often the owners are able to retrieve their pets relatively quickly, and the kennels provide a less stressful environment.

The materials for the upgrades were provided by Lowes and the work done was completed entirely by volunteers. The students from Portage Lakes Career Center helped with both materials and the manual labor to construct a new shed to store all of the supplies needed to take care of the dogs. Rescuer Kellie Chapman of Springfield recently spoke to The Suburbanite and expressed her gratitude to all the donors and volunteers that made this project possible, "Without them we could not do what we do. Donations are what keeps the kennels running, without the kind people of the village and township these doggies would maybe never find their homes." Anyone who wishes to contribute to the cause can contact the Lakemore Police Department.