Ponca City Lowe's helps upgrade Animal Shelter with new project

Lowe’s and the City of Blackwell have recently completed an upgrade to the Animal Control Center located at 365 Stevens Avenue here in Blackwell.

The center has received three new roof structures that cover the outdoor dog pens. These coverings will provide shade for the dogs in the summer as well as shelter from the weather during the winter months.

In addition to the roof structures over the dog pens an additional roof was built to replace an aging covering over the dog kennels located on the south side of the center. Fence gates have been repaired, slats have been added to block the wind and holes have been filled along with staining of the roof structure and painting parts of the building.

The project came about because Missy Elliott a local resident of Blackwell had visited the Animal Control Center and recognized the need for some help. Missy who is an employee of Lowe’s in Ponca City got in contact with the store manager Dustin Clark to submit the project as a possible Hometown Hero’s project.

The project was approved and a short time later meetings were held with Assistant Chief of police Jason Bell as well as Nick Dodge to create a list of needs that Lowe’s could help with for the center. It was quickly decided that the dogs needed a roof structure to protect them against the weather as well as some general maintenance-type items throughout the center.

Materials were donated by Lowe’s along with some of their vendors such as Sherwin Williams Paint and Grip Rte Screws among others. Labor was provided by volunteers from Lowe’s of Ponca City including the project Leads Spencer Walker (Lowe’s pro-Sales Specialist) who helped with design and Keith Neilsen who provided tools and helped coordinate the project.

In all over 30 Lowe’s employees and or their families helped to complete this project. Lowe’s Hometowns Hero’s projects have benefited 2.5 million people from the 2022 & 2023 projects.