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Members of the Bainbridge Rotary Club met at the Kirbo Center on Tuesday for their weekly meeting. The guest speaker of the day was Stephanie Harrity, a board member of the Bainbridge Humane Society, who spoke about the Society’s new and improved facility.

“A new building has been a long project in the making,” Harrity said. “It never would have been completed without so much tireless dedication, and donations.”

Harrity recalled the prior sub-par conditions at the old Humane Society shelter: “It was sliding off of its foundation, sheet rock was deteriorating, metal was rusting, and the moisture and ammonia was causing the ceiling tiles to buckle,” she recalled. Issues with the ventilation, sewage and drainage systems were also common, Harrity said, showing photos of workers having to wade through unclean water after pipes flooded. After detailing the poor conditions of the previous shelter, Harrity moved on to show the Humane Society’s new and improved facility, which includes things such as outdoor patios for the shelter cats, quarantine and isolation kennels, whelping rooms for expectant mothers, improved ventilation and sewage systems, as well as improved staff facilities. “I can tell you that the staff truly enjoys having an actual break room, offices, healthy working environment, and clean air,” she said.

Harrity concluded by inviting those at Rotary to the new facility’s upcoming ribbon-cutting ceremony in September, as well as the concurrent open house. She then answered questions from the audience before the meeting was adjourned.