By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

Efforts to build a $2.5 million regional animal shelter should get more public later this summer.

“You should see much more of us, out in public and talking to civic groups,” said Donna Richey, development director at the Greater Androscoggin Humane Society.

The group is down to raising the last $500,000 for the work, Richey said. They’ll send a mailing this week to society supporters asking for donations.

They hope to move out of their Auburn space next spring into a new shelter on Strawberry Avenue in Lewiston. The current facility, off Hotel Road in Auburn, has about 3,600-square-feet of space. It was designed to serve about 1,000 animals each year. But as many as 4,000 animals went through the shelter last year.

The new space will have more than 14,000-square-feet, with bigger rooms for animals and their prospective owners.

Richey said the new shelter will go out for bids in September. Work is expected to begin next spring.

Shelter supporters began raising money for the new space in 2000. The effort received a boost in January when Cynthia Crocker, former owner of Pepsi bottler Seltzer & Rydholm, donated an undisclosed amount.

They had about $1 million in August and $1.8 million by January.

Richey said the shelter raised another $12,000 last month at a charity golf tournament at Prospect Hill Golf Club. They’re also selling engraved paving bricks that will be placed in a walkway around the building.

“We have a enough money collected to get started, but we still need that last $500,000 to finish,” she said.