WILTON —  Students from Academy Hill School donated the proceeds from the sale of their book, “Welcome to Wilton,” to the Franklin County Animal Shelter on Thursday.

After using recycled items from Everyone’s Resource Depot in Farmington to create scenes of Wilton last year, photos and information were published and the book was sold for $5 this summer at the Baker’s Market Cafe on Main Street.

Three of the 10 fifth- and sixth-graders who worked on the book, Tucker Barber, Hannah LeClair and Darby Sabin, presented $135.46 to shelter board President Heidi Jordan, who brought two kittens to the event.

The shelter currently is full, with 20 dogs and 103 cats and another 100 cats in foster care waiting for shelter space, Jordan said. Last month, the shelter gave away 70 cats during the Farmington Fair. However, the census is still high because some people can’t afford to keep their pets and some pets are found left on dirt roads and brought to the shelter by animal control officers, she said.

While donations are helpful, perhaps the most help would be for pet owners to have their animals spayed and neutered, she said.  The shelter was able to provide 140 vouchers for free neutering this year with help from Mary White and Maggie Luce’s yard sale in Strong, a donation of $12,000 over the past two years.

The shelter will again offer free vouchers starting in January and there is help from the state via a program called “Help Fix Me” with funds raised through special license plates, she said.

The students planned for the book sale profits to be given to the shelter and included it in the book, which has been sold to people who visited the cafe this summer.

Copies are also being sent to Sortavala, Russia, to be used by a teacher with Russian students learning English, said Betty Shibles of the Baker’s Market Cafe. She may be contacted at 645-7107 for more information about the cafe or books.

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