WQXE NEWS

As the weather turns colder, Friends of Hardin County Animal Shelter is helping area residents who care for outdoor or community cats.

FOHCAS says for the fourth year the organization will be offering free winter cat shelters. The shelters are made of sturdy styrofoam donated by Eurotrol and filled with straw to help outdoor cats get out of the cold.

“These are for cats who live outdoors, who may be feral, or are just being fed by a caretaker but don’t have an indoor home, and so these shelters help to provide some shelter during the winter,” said FOHCAS Board Chair Sarah Fellows.

FOHCAS volunteers will be distributing the shelters from 10 to 11 a.m. on Saturday, November 22 behind the Hardin County Animal Shelter, located at 220 Peterson Drive in Elizabethtown.

“You’ll just turn down Headquarters Drive right beside the Hardin County Animal Shelter,” Fellows said. “You’ll go past their parking lot and go straight down through the end of that street, which is a cul-de-sac. It’s a very short street and we’ll be there from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. or until those are gone.”

There is a limit of two shelters per car. The shelters are free but donations will be accepted. For more information on the organization, visit the Friends of Hardin County Animal Shelter Facebook page or website.

The Olive Branch Fund, a nonprofit fund created by Olive and Oak Realty and housed out of the Central Kentucky Community Foundation, invites the public to help support their mission of supporting adoptive families at their Adopt-a-Fraser event, to be held November 28 and 29 at Village Green Landscaping in Elizabethtown.

Olive and Oak owner and Olive Branch Fund founder Tara Still says area businesses are sponsoring trees that will be on display at the event.

“The businesses are going to go in and decorate each tree with a different theme,” Still said. “These businesses have spent money to buy the tree and buy the decorations and taken time to decorate all these trees, and then we are going to auction these trees off at that event.”

A silent auction will also be held along with other activities.

“We have Santa, we have music, activities for the kids, food trucks, giveaways, and then we also have vendors,” Still said. “Since it’s going to be Black Friday and Small Business Saturday, we have vendors who are setting up in tents.”

All proceeds will support the Olive Branch Fund, which Still started based on the experience she and her husband had with the adoption process. The fund aims to help ease the financial burden on families looking to adopt.

“It’s typically around $20,000 to $50,000 to adopt, and I just remember thinking, ‘what if we didn’t have the means to do this? What would we have done?’” Still said. “So it’s always been something that’s just been huge on my heart.”

Visit the Olive Branch Fund Facebook page to learn more about the organization and the Adopt-a-Fraser event.

Thanks to a recent donation, students in the Elizabethtown Community and Technical College Diesel Technology Program have a new tool for learning.

ECTC says the Diesel Technology Program recently received a 2016 Volvo Day cab truck, donated by Gordon Food Services. The truck is the second semi-truck donated to the college by GFS, which has also previously donated a tow dolly and two tractors.

The college says the truck donation will allow students to train on industry-specific equipment, which will give students the skills and training to be workforce ready upon completion of the program. These students are able to join a strong pipeline of skilled technicians able to support local industry.

More information on the Diesel Technology Program is available on the ECTC website.

In other ECTC news, Thursday is the last day for area residents to support the college’s Family Scholar House Thanksgiving Meal Drive. ECTC says their goal is to provide meal kits for at least 100 students. Find a list of requested items and drop-off sites, or donate financially, by visiting ectc.us/thanksgiving.