My partner and I are both animal lovers. We have a small menagerie. Our cats range from the creaky, 18 year-old Mr. Higgins to six-week-old Hetty, a stray we found living in our garage a week ago. We have two dogs as well: Molly the Princess, a beautiful and astonishingly smart Australian Shepherd , and our other baby, Tank, a huge loveable German Shepherd mix. All our pets, save little Hetty the stray, were adopted from shelters. The quality they add to our lives can't be measured.

Right now our local shelter needs everyone's help. Nearly 60 dogs and an even larger number of cats need homes. Moreover, the materials needs of housing them are huge. If you want to and are able to adopt, please think about doing so now. And whether you can adopt or not, please go to www.icanimalcenter.org and review the list of what's needed. This is the time to lend a hand to these folks and these animals. Thanks.