BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Telegraph Staff Writer
Bradford Senior FFA students Kyndall Key and Amanda Zink, accompanied by Adviser Kaitlin Van Heusen, presented a check in the amount of $481.02 to Bradford County Sheriff Gordon Smith to benefit Bradford County Sheriff’s Office Animal Services on April 21.
The money was raised through a fundraising idea by Key in which people voted with their spare change on who they’d like to see kiss the FFA chapter steer that would be exhibited at the Bradford Agricultural Fair. Besides Smith, people were able to cast votes for Superintendent of Schools Will Hartley, Bradford High School Principal Angela Ward, Bradford Middle School Principal Danielle Rosson or North Florida Technical College Director Brad Bishop.
Smith went to the ag facility at North Florida Technical College to kiss Rufus before he was taken to the fairgrounds.
In accepting the check from Key and Zink at Animal Services, Smith said, “This goes a long, long way. If I have to kiss a cow next year, I’ll do the same thing.”
Summerlyn Byrd, who works with Animal Services, said the money could be used in a number of ways.
“It can help with some of the fences that need to be fixed, some of the doors that don’t work, some of the beds that need to be replaced. There’s a lot that we can actually put that toward to better our facility,” she said.
“I can’t even think of what it’s going to go toward yet, but there’s a lot that we do need fixed here. Any kind of donation like that does mean a lot.”
Byrd said Animals Services has benefitted from the kindness of others, who either donate money or items in person or by purchasing items included on Animal Service’s Amazon wish list.
“Every little bit does help,” Byrd said, noting that donations help provide the best care for the animals as well as saving the county money.
Community support has seemed to increase since the name change from Animal Control to Animal Services as well as the fact that Animal Services is now a no-kill facility.
It’s not just people stepping up to provide dollars or items such as food, blankets, cat litter and litter boxes. The facility has benefitted from volunteers doing such things as fostering kittens and providing transportation for spaying and neutering.
Rescue organizations from cities such as Gainesville and Jacksonville have made trips to the Bradford facility part of their schedule. The K9s for Warriors organization, which provides service dogs for veterans, has also been collecting animals from the facility.
Bradford County Sheriff’s Office Animal Services, located at 16946 S.W. 75th Ave. in Starke, is open Mondays through Fridays from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. The phone number is 904-964-9200. You can visit the facility’s Facebook page for more information or access its website via bradfordsheriff.org.
