The Inter-Mountain photos by Taylor McKinnie Friendly and even-tempered Burl, who is available for adoption at the Randolph County Humane Society, poses for the camera.

ELKINS — As the year come to a close, the Randolph County Humane Society has attained half of its needed fundraising for a new $385,000 cat-focused facility, as the organization offers reduced adoption fees this holiday season.

“We’re excited to share that we’ve reached 50% of our fundraising goal,” RCHS President and Acting Vice President of Outreach Jenna Lee told The Inter-Mountain. “Thank you to everyone who’s helped bring us this far by donating, participating in our fundraisers, fostering cats and volunteering… We’re so grateful for the community’s support and patience!”

The organization broke ground on the new facility in June, replacing a previous structure that had been on the property since the 1950s.

The building is slated to provide a new visitor reception area for all shelter operations, “catios” to allow cats to have outside playtime, quarantine for new intakes and isolation space for sick cats, and a future surgical and recovery suite that will eventually provide low-cost spay and neuter services for the community.

Lee said that construction on the building is “well underway,” with the roof nearly complete and the interior work scheduled to begin next.

In a previous interview with The Inter-Mountain, RCHS board member and former president Tina Vial explained that the new building’s quarantine and isolation space will help the shelter improve the overall health of the cat population and allow adoptions of healthy cats to continue without any interruptions.

“While this isn’t necessarily going to increase our capacity, because we’ll be able to have about the same number of cats at a time that we had before, but we’ll be able to move them still faster and that’s the goal,” Vial told The Inter-Mountain at the time.

The surgical and recovery suite will also give RCHS the ability to offer low-cost spay and neuter services.

“It costs us almost as much for spay and neuter services as it does the public,” Vial said “People don’t realize that. They think that we get that done free and we don’t. We have to pay for that. So funding is critical for us to be able to do spay and neuter. If we’re doing it ourselves and we only have to pay a vet and buy the supplies, then that changes the whole game.”

Lee said the RCHS is always seeking new volunteers and foster homes for the animals in their care. Volunteers are needed to assist with general cleaning, laundry, animal socialization and more. Those interested can visit rchswv.org to complete a volunteer or foster inquiry form, or call RCHS at 304-636-7844.

The organization also holds group dog walks every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 10 a.m. Individual walkers and groups are welcome, Lee said.

The RCHS is also currently offering a “Home for the Holidays special” where adoption fees for dogs and cats are reduced. The special will end on Dec. 31.

As RCHS continues to raise funds for the new cat facility, the organization asks potential donors to either:

* Drop off their donation at the shelter at 195 Weese Street in Elkins.

* Mail their donation to PO Box 785, Elkins WV 26241, with a notice that the donation is for the building campaign.

* Donate online at bit.ly/buildrchs

For more information, contact the Randolph County Humane Society at 304-636-7844, or reach Lee at 304-704-3775.

Randolph County Humane Society President and Acting Vice President of Outreach Jenna Lee, along with kitten Jamal, hold up a donation check presented to the RCHS from The Inter-Mountain.