FERRIDAY &045; Organizers of the Concordia Animal Welfare and Rescue Shelter are calling on the public for donations of time, talent, money and construction materials to get the shelter up and running.

The facility is needed, local officials and volunteers have said, due to the problem of stray animals running loose through Concordia Parish and its towns.

Last week, volunteers purchased a 1,500-square-foot metal building and surrounding property &045; four city lots in all &045; at 1208 First St. in Ferriday to house the shelter. But the building needs much work to be fit to use, said organizer Donna Maroon.

&uot;All it’s got in it is an office area and bathroom,&uot; Maroon said. &uot;We’ve got to put in new walls and ceilings because it has to have a heating, cooling and filtration system, and we’ve also got to build dog runs. We’ll take fencing, cinder blocks, Š basically anything we can get.&uot;

Sheriff Randy Maxwell has volunteered the use of inmate labor to clean up the property, and Ferriday Mayor Glen McGlothin offered the city’s help as well. &uot;We hope to start not next week, but the next,&uot; Maroon said.

Last month, the shelter received a $15,000 grant from the state’s Rural Department Office to renovate the building. The building, plus $1,500 from the Town of Ferriday, served as the organization’s match for the grant. In addition, about $1,400 was raised from a poker run.

Shelter volunteers will hold another benefit poker run at 1 p.m. Saturday at The Dock on Lake St. John.

Money raised from the benefit and from the sale of T-shirts at the run will be used to renovate the shelter.