When Chris Lundberg and his wife began volunteering at the Longmont Humane Society, they made a pact that they wouldn’t bring home every single animal.
In the two and a half years since they began helping out at the shelter, despite the temptations, they’ve managed to only adopt five rats.
“They come in as bonded and they all have to be adopted together,” he explained. “After a few weeks of paying attention to them and coming to the realization that there probably weren’t a lot of people willing to adopt three rats, we did that.”
A few months later, they adopted two more rats, adding to the long legacy of animals finding their homes at the Longmont Humane Society. This year’s Homeward Bound, the nonprofit’s annual benefit, returns for an in person event for the first time in two years to celebrate the shelter’s 50 years in operation.
“We’re growing and taking us to the next step,” Deputy Director Mitchell Willis said. “We’ve had 50 glorious years, so now what do the next 50 years look like?”
Since Oct. 17, 1972, the Longmont Humane Society has been rescuing animals from dogs and cats to birds, rats and more, and finding them forever homes.
“It really was community people coming together knowing there’s a problem,” Willis said of the founding of the Longmont Humane Society.
He didn’t know how many pets had been adopted since the shelter’s founding, but said that throughout the 2010s the organization averaged between 2,000 and 3,000 adoptions a year.
With the anniversary, the shelter is looking to continue growing its community presence. Willis said the humane society is hoping to become more of a hub with events like a family movie night this summer.
Additionally, the organization is looking to offer more opportunities to help families facing the hard decision of giving up their pets.
“We are taking the organization to tie into saving pets and saving families,” he said. “We want to tie in how pets become not just something in the house. For some of us, they become extended kids.”
To do that, the humane society is creating a fund for people who might not be able to afford emergency pet care. Willis also highlighted the temporary care the shelter can offer for people down on their luck, whether that’s housing pets for fire evacuees or caring for a homeless man’s dog while he served a few days in jail.
On Friday morning, before the shelter opened to the public, Lundberg and others made the rounds taking the dogs outside, cleaning litter boxes and saying hello to the pets. Karen, a tortoiseshell cat, tossed and turned on a blanket as she saw Lundberg go by.
“We have a history,” he said as he waggled a finger at her. “I love her dearly.”
Looking to the next 50 years, Willis said fostering this relationship with the community will continue to be the goal. He said that the shelter plans to grow its social media presence and is considering some capital projects on the building.
Most importantly, the shelter will continue to focus on fostering happy lives for the pets in its care.
“We want to grow with everybody. We want to be a part of all the change,” Willis said. “But humanistically we also want to hold on to tradition and that’s doing the right thing with pet care.”
Homeward Bound will be from 6-9 p.m. Saturday at the Boulder County Fairgrounds Exhibit Building. Learn more and get tickets at www.longmonthumane.org/events/.
