About 70 people attended a ribbon cutting ceremony Sunday afternoon in Jefferson of a project that for one individual was a decade in the making.

Don Orris spearheaded the effort to bring together a new Greene County Animal Shelter back in 2013. Through his ten years, Orris went to several other animal shelter facilities, talked with veterinarians and other experts, and raised over $825,000. He acknowledged that the City of Jefferson helped with another $400,000 and the final push to make the building a reality was a $75,000 challenge grant from Wallace Teagarden for the public to raise another $75,000 in two weeks and they did it. Orris was elated to see this project to its conclusion.

“People didn’t realize how much support there was from us at all levels, all people in all different organizations. Everybody wanted this and knew this needed to happen. With covid happening, the building costs got away from us and we were really challenged to get this completed. People kept stepping up and stepping up all the way until the end. I just can’t say enough for the community and the way they came together to make this happen.” 

Orris encourages everyone to check out the facility and the Jefferson Rotary Century Dog Park. He added there is a non-profit foundation setup at City Hall for the animal shelter. Orris said once someone makes a donation to the foundation, they will use only the interest to go toward the shelter. He pointed out the goal is to raise $2 million in the foundation so that the animal shelter operations are self-sustaining, with the approximate expenses to be between $60,000 and $80,000.