Since its creation over three years ago, the Carbon County Animal Shelter's clothing drive has raised thousands of dollars for the care of the reduced canines. Animal shelter Director Tom Connors said he came up with the idea after hearing about collections in different churches and seeing the clothing bins on various roadways.

"It's by far our largest fundraiser," he said.Connors said the shelter will collect 150 bags or more before calling a company in New Jersey to come and collect the donations."It has to be clean, wearable clothing," he said.The bags are weighed by the company to calculate the amount the shelter will receive. Donations of men's, women's and children's clothing, shoes, belts, purses, curtains and blankets are all accepted for the fundraiser."We go through the bags. If there are things we can use here at the shelter like blankets and towels we will keep them."An estimated $550 a month or more is put back into the nonprofit no-kill shelter though the drive."It's a tough economy but people want to help. Everyone has clothing that doesn't fit them anymore."Connors said all the money raised is put directly back into the shelter for the care of the dogs."It's my responsibility to keep costs down without sacrificing the service we provided. The taxpayers fund the shelter so I try in any way to keep the costs down," he said.The Carbon County Animal Shelter has been operating for over 20 years with each county municipality contributing tax money.The Weatherly mayor became the director of the shelter three years ago and felt at home almost immediately."I fell in love with the dogs. I feel comfortable handling them," he said.Part of his job is to work closely with police enforcement when a dog is found at the scene of a call."I'm happy to help the police force. Sometimes they encounter an aggressive dog or a dog acting aggressively in a situation and it's important to keep everyone safe."Connors said the biggest expense of the shelter is the administrative costs such as utilities, maintenance and employees."We get all our food and supplies donated thanks to the good people of the county who support us."During February, the shelter offers a reduced adoption fee of $50 versus the usual $100. The director said the reduced fee has led to 10 adoptions in the short month compared with two in January."We currently only have seven dogs under our care. Normally it's 15. It's a record low."Connors has faith in the adoptions that the shelter conducts, saying, "We have had three dogs here over a year, but they were adopted and have been in their homes now for over two years."Connor says the most important thing in adopting a dog is patience."When you get a dog home, give it time to adjust to a new environment. Rescue dogs are very loyal. They know they've been saved."The typical breed found at most shelters tends to be pit bulls, but Connors says it stems from the owners not the breed."People don't fix them or socialize them. They're a great breed, but until people start getting them fixed and socializing them, we're going to have problems. You need to do your job as a pet owner."The shelter is only 30 bags away from its next clothing collection. A small hand-built structure has been constructed for people to be able to drop bags of clean, wearable clothing at any hour.During the month of May donations can be made for the third annual countywide yard sale hosted at the shelter in June."People donate the month before and we have averaged over $1,000 from the yard sale. It's amazing how much stuff we get," he said.Anything not sold during the summer sale will be given to a local nonprofit."It's nice the way everyone works together," he said.Clothing donations can be made at the 63 Broad St., Nesquehoning address. For more information, contact the shelter by email:

ccashltr@ptd.net or call 570-325-4828.