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Childhood poverty the focus at United Way of Luzerne County

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<p>PLAINS TWP. &#8212; Dogs and cats and rabbits &#8212; oh my!</p><p>For six decades, the nonprofit SPCA of Luzerne County has served as a home for the county&#8217;s unwanted or neglected domesticated animals, ensuring they go to safe homes.</p><p>But according to Todd Hevner, executive director of the organization whose mission is the prevention of cruelty to animals, the local SPCA has roots to 1893 as a place to take care of children and animals.</p><p>&#8220;They (animals) would be held at various founding members&#8217; barns,&#8221; Hevner said.</p><p>The shelter&#8217;s building on East Main Street in Plains Township didn&#8217;t exist until 1957.</p><p>Hevner has been the SPCA&#8217;s top dog for nearly two years, and he&#8217;s been trying to make the open-admission shelter brighter and more people-friendly rather than &#8220;institutionalized.&#8221;</p><p>Before Hevner took his position, the facility had beige walls, and he said he wasn&#8217;t a fan. To help lighten the shelter, volunteers and staff members painted different-colored paw prints on the hallways, along with doors colored to match different sections &#8212; cats, small animals and dogs.</p><p>The center, with approximately 14,500 square feet of space, has several additions from the original building &#8212; a clinic where veterinarians spay and neuter animals, an isolation room where cats are kept if they get an infection, and a quiet room in which dogs learn the basics before being adopted out.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s not formal training, but it helps when re-homing,&#8221; said Peggy Nork, the SPCA&#8217;s director of development.</p><p>The shelter, an independent operation that relies on donations from the community, is the county&#8217;s only open-admission facility, meaning no domesticated animals are turned away as long as they originated in Luzerne County.</p><p>Hevner said the SPCA has records of an intake of more than 14,000 in the 1980s. Nork added the shelter has averaged 5,000 over the past few years.</p><p>Hevner said to keep overpopulation down, euthanasia is an &#8220;ugly answer,&#8221; but sometimes a necessary one.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s one big cycle,&#8221; he said. &#8220;The alternative is strays on streets.&#8221;</p><p>And though it&#8217;s a necessary evil, an emotional Hevner said he&#8217;s proud of his 32-person staff, who carry that weight on their shoulders.</p><p>Because of the negative connotation with open-admission shelters, Hevner said, the SPCA employs a humane educator who goes to schools and civic organizations to educate the public about what the SPCA offers, including adoption.</p><p>At other shelters, a typical adoption, from shots to vaccines, can cost $300 to $500, Hevner said. At the SPCA of Luzerne County, a healthy animal ready to go home will cost $150. During the SPCA&#8217;s adoption process, potential adopters and animals go through a &#8220;Meet your Match&#8221; program.</p><p>&#8220;We are a dating service for animals,&#8221; Hevner said about the process, which takes into consideration the needs and wants of the family for their pet. The program sets everyone up &#8220;for a lifelong of positives,&#8221; he said.</p><p>The shelter also has Humane Society police officers on staff. Their job is to enforce Pennsylvania&#8217;s anti-cruelty laws and execute search warrants signed by the district attorney.</p><p>Wayne Harvey, a 20-year veteran as an SPCA officer, said a misconception of officers is that they are animal-rights activists.</p><p>&#8220;We are law enforcement,&#8221; he stressed. &#8220;We may not like what we see, but we keep emotions out of it.&#8221;</p><p>Harvey said SPCA officers log about 500 initial calls in a year, not including follow-ups. The officers have a wide range of authority, from issuing citations for minor offenses to felony charges for animal cruelty.</p><p>&#8220;We would rather educate them to where the situation is satisfactory,&#8221; Harvey said.</p><p>Nork said the shelter &#8220;wouldn&#8217;t exist&#8221; without the community. From the food they feed the animals to the volunteers who clean cages, everything is done for the animals.</p><p>&#8220;If you love animals, come,&#8221; Nork said about having people volunteer. &#8220;You don&#8217;t have to adopt to make a difference.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_TTLXXXX17excelling-SPCA3-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">This cat has found a home at the SPCA, the county&#8217;s only open-admission facility. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_TTLXXXX17excelling-SPCA3-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>This cat has found a home at the SPCA, the county&#8217;s only open-admission facility. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_TTLXXXX17excelling-SPCA2-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Todd Hevner, the SPCA&#8217;s executive director for nearly two years, says he&#8217;s trying to make the facility more people-friendly instead of &#8216;institutionalized.&#8217; </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_TTLXXXX17excelling-SPCA2-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Todd Hevner, the SPCA&#8217;s executive director for nearly two years, says he&#8217;s trying to make the facility more people-friendly instead of &#8216;institutionalized.&#8217; </caption1><photoCredit1>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_TTLXXXX17excelling-SPCA1-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">The SPCA of Luzerne County, located in Plains Township, has roots to 1893 as a place to care for children and animals. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_TTLXXXX17excelling-SPCA1-1.jpg</photo2><caption2>The SPCA of Luzerne County, located in Plains Township, has roots to 1893 as a place to care for children and animals. </caption2><photoCredit2>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Melanie Mizenko</p><p>mmizenko@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>SPCA OF LUZERNE COUNTY</strong></p><p>&#8226; <strong>Year opened:</strong> 1957</p><p>&#8226; <strong>Executive Director:</strong> Todd Hevner</p><p>&#8226; <strong>Address:</strong> 524 E. Main St., Plains Township</p><p>&#8226; <strong>Phone:</strong> 570-825-4111</p><p>&#8226; <strong>Website:</strong> <a href="http://www.spcaluzernecounty.org/" target="_blank">spcaluzernecounty.org</a></p><p>&#8226; <strong>Notable:</strong> The local SPCA has roots to 1893 as a place to take care of children and animals.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Melanie Mizenko at 570-991-6116 or on Twitter @TL_MMizenko</p></shirttailMeta></div>

SPCA of Luzerne County: For 60 years, a haven for the needy