Volunteers Hit The Kennel For Humane Society

Lorna Steff is probably the best kennelmate Sadie could have hoped for.

Steff, a 14-year-old Spring Hill resident, yielded to the red-nosed pit bull's yearning for a soft place to sleep.

"I ended up giving her the bed and I slept on the floor," Steff said around lunchtime Monday as she sat on a cot with Sadie and Tralynn Barbee, a 13-year-old Spring Hill resident who is sharing the same kennel.

Steff and Barbee are among some 50 volunteers bunking with dogs this week in the confines of the chain link kennels at the Humane Society of the Nature Coast. Volunteers spend at least 24 hours in the kennels as part of the shelter's second annual Heart to Heart event.

The event, which began Sunday and ends this Saturday at 4 p.m., aims to raise money for the shelter at the corner of Wiscon and Mobley roads and raise awareness of the dogs that need homes, said director Joanne Schoch. Schoch celebrated her 57th birthday Monday and is spending the entire week in a kennel with Darlene, a roughly three-year-old pit bull mix.

Visitors are encouraged to drop some cash into containers hanging on the outside of each kennel. Last year's event raised about $16,000, but just as important, adoption rates soared as visitors came to check out the spectacle and wound up taking dogs home, Schoch said.

Volunteers get to come out for meals and to walk their kennelmates. They have access to the Internet, and volunteers are spending time on www.zootoo.com, racking up points on the pet information site to help the shelter stay in the running for a million-dollar makeover.

Wendy McGinnis, a deputy with the Hernando County Sheriff's Office, spent Sunday night with Rocky, a roughly four-year-old, black and white Border collie mix rescued from Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. Sheriff Richard Nugent shared a kennel with Rocky last year.

McGinnis spent much of the time doing research for a course she's taking on the way to a bachelor's degree in business administration. She and her husband recently adopted a yellow Labrador and it motivated her to participate in Heart to Heart to help find happy homes like hers.

"I realized how animals are so affectionate and so loyal, and they need to get back what they give," McGinnis said.

To find out more about the shelter and its Heart to Heart event, call 796-2711.