Better Together Pet Resource Center opening brick-and-mortar location

Sep. 14—After spending its first two years as a mobile operation, the Better Together Pet Resource Center now has a brick-and-mortar space for dog and cat owners.

The non-profit center is currently renovating the building at 3019 Niagara St., shaping the place up to be its new center of operations.

"We're here to help people keep their animals so they don't end up letting them out the front door," said community liaison Lisa Damone-Attfield.

Co-founder Deanna Meyers has been working at various animal shelters, rescue organizations, and veterinary hospitals for the past 15 years. Way too often, she saw people bring their animals to shelters because they could not afford them.

"This is basically a service to the community," volunteer Joanna Romano said, adding that inflation has played a part for some pet owners who come to a point where they can't afford their pets.

For free or at a low cost, Better Together and its group of around 10 volunteers created a space where people can bring their pets for shots, inserting microchips for identification and surgeries. It started out as a donated mobile unit that would appear at various Niagara County events. The service can also help people get their stray animals back from shelters.

When at events, the mobile unit volunteers can help around 30 animals within a couple of hours. For one-on-one assistance, they have so far helped 15 families and around 20 animals.

Better Together will offer the same services here as in the mobile unit, becoming a walk-in clinic with a training center so owners can learn how to take care of their animals. The volunteers had looked into settling into a building for the past two years, wanting to be somewhere in downtown Niagara Falls, and Damone-Attfield knows the building owner. It was previously home to an Ace Hobby Shop and Fire 716 Radio.

"We eventually want to go into neighborhoods and provide services where there's no access to vet care or pet supplies, but we're not there yet," Meyers said, focusing on serving Niagara Falls and Niagara County. "We need more funding first."

Meyers hopes to get all the work done improving the site interior by next year, depending on how much in donations they receive. Home Depot donated brand new floors that employees will come to install.

The mobile unit will still go around the county for events, appearing at the Niagara County Department of Health's rabies clinic in Lockport today. New volunteers and donations, whether supplies or monetary, are always appreciated.