By Daniel Hartill,Staff Writer

The drive to create a new region-wide animal shelter has received a substantial, but secret-sized, boost.

Leaders of the Greater Androscoggin Humane Society won’t say how much money Cynthia Crocker, the former owner of Pepsi bottler Seltzer & Rydholm, gave to the fund-raising effort.

However, the donation lifts the tally to $1.8 million, said Steve Dostie, the society’s executive director. Last August, the fund-raising tally was at $1 million. The total project is expected to cost $2.5 million.

“It is a huge boost for us,” Dostie said. “This gift means this project will happen.”

The donation was made in the name of George Cotton, Crocker’s brother. He died last fall following a car accident.

On Thursday, the gift was among those cited at the annual Androscoggin County Chamber of Commerce dinner, where Crocker was honored with the President’s Award. The award was given for a lifetime of charitable work, including large gifts to area hospitals.

In his presentation, Chamber President Chip Morrison said Crocker was the beneficiary of her brother’s life insurance policy and donated the entire sum to the shelter. Crocker, who is currently spending the winter in Florida, could not be reached for comment.

Her donation to the shelter has re-energized its fund-raising effort, said Joanne Lebel, who is leading a newly created campaign team.

“She gave a great deal of credibility to our cause,” Lebel said.

Dostie and the campaign team now hope to raise the remaining $700,000 balance by this fall and to begin construction on the new building in the spring of 2006.

It’s been a long campaign.

The humane society has been raising money and planning since 2000. It’s been a desperate need, Dostie said.

The current shelter was built in 1972, tucked on a side road in Auburn about 7 miles from the downtown. Like shelters everywhere, it was built according to the era’s fashion: hidden and away from people.

At 3,600 square feet, it was designed to handle about 1,000 animals a year. Currently, it handles between 3,500 and 4,000. The garage, storage rooms and even bathrooms have been revamped to store animals. Cages and kennels have been built, piled and stacked.

At 14,000 square feet, the new building is planned to be almost four times as large and located on Strawberry Avenue in Lewiston. It will be designed to be friendly and inviting, a place where people want to go rather than a sad place for stray animals.

And animals won’t be euthanized because there is no room for them, said Dostie.

Between 2000 and 2003, the society euthanized 1,242 animals because of the limited space at the current shelter.

Staff Writer Carol Coultas contributed to this report.

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