The Mahoning Township Lions Club donated $1,000 to Carbon County area animal shelters Wednesday night at the Chapel Grove Pavilion.

"We see a need everywhere, but especially the animal shelters," said Thomas Zimmerman IV, Lions Club president."We've been helping the shelters a long time. We were the first club 28 years ago to have a rabies clinic. Animals and kids really seem to appeal to the community and pull on people's heart strings," he said.The Lions presented the $500 checks to the Carbon County Animal Shelter in Nesquehoning and Carbon County Friends of Animals located in Jim Thorpe.Carbon County Commissioner Thomas J. Gerhard accepted the donation on behalf of the shelter, while CCFA board member Kimmy Mulik accepted on behalf of the cat shelter. Both said the funds would be applied to the daily operations of the animal housing.Gerhard said it costs an estimated $70,000 a year to keep the doors open at the shelter while Mulik said the average cost to run the CCFA $8,000 a month."We operate completely on donations and fundraisers," Mulik said."Right now we have an overabundance of cats. It's kitten season all year round and we are really overcrowded," she said.Mulik said the average cat costs $100 for spaying or neutering and up-to-date shots."It's not easy task to run the shelter and it's very expensive. We have 175 cats now," she said. Mulik thanked the club for its generosity."It will be put to good use," she said."We also want to thank the Lions. It's organizations like this that help Carbon County Shelter," Gerhard said."A few years ago we were in jeopardy of losing the shelter to a nonprofit organization but we fought to be able to make it work," he said.Gerhard said the shelter receives roughly $20,000 to $23,000 a year in donations, with the rest of the funds derived from the county budget."The men and women in the Lions work hard and we appreciate it very much," he said.