The renovations that have taken place thus far at Lake Humane Society and Adoption Center in Mentor serve as a turning point for the nonprofit organization. New to the Lake Humane staff, Development Director Duke Murphy and Marketing Coordinator Corrine Kuczkowski both said it’s been rewarding to be a part of the transformations. “Duke started in April, and I started in August, so we got to see the old kennels and get the vibe of us as an organization,” Kuczkowski said. “I loved being a part of the transformation from beginning to end and see a lot of great benefits already for the animals.” The renovations that have taken place thus far at Lake Humane Society and Adoption Center in Mentor serve as a turning point for the nonprofit organization. (Marah Morrison -- The News-Herald)The renovations that have taken place thus far at Lake Humane Society and Adoption Center in Mentor serve as a turning point for the nonprofit organization. (Marah Morrison -- The News-Herald)The renovations that have taken place thus far at Lake Humane Society and Adoption Center in Mentor serve as a turning point for the nonprofit organization. (Marah Morrison -- The News-Herald)The renovations that have taken place thus far at Lake Humane Society and Adoption Center in Mentor serve as a turning point for the nonprofit organization. (Marah Morrison -- The News-Herald)The renovations that have taken place thus far at Lake Humane Society and Adoption Center in Mentor serve as a turning point for the nonprofit organization. (Marah Morrison -- The News-Herald)Show Caption1 of 5The renovations that have taken place thus far at Lake Humane Society and Adoption Center in Mentor serve as a turning point for the nonprofit organization. (Marah Morrison -- The News-Herald)Expand Murphy, having grown up in Mentor, visited the Humane Society, at 7564 Tyler Blvd. E., frequently. Being able to talk with staff members who have been with the organization longer, Murphy learned that every executive director the organization has had in the past 10 years wanted to do something like this. (Randall Barnes now holds that position.) “The biggest thing was laying the new laminate flooring in the cat-and-dog showroom because we used to just have concrete,” he said. “It’s good for easy cleanup, but it’s dark and not the most aesthetically pleasing, so we were able to get a lighter type of flooring that is also easy to clean.” Updating painting at the Humane Society also took place as part of the renovations. “We’re trying to point out the different areas (where) you can find animals and make it easier for people to find them,” Murphy said. The dog kennel improvements were another big piece of the renovations. Since installing the new kennels, the Humane Society went from having a capacity of 24 dogs to 36. “The space looks larger because it’s being utilized more efficiently, and we are able to have the animals be safer, have our volunteers and staff be safer with these new kennels,” Murphy said. The new dog bathing area may seem like a small installation, but volunteers are excited they now have a space meant for bathing dogs, Murphy said. Additionally, the dogs now have a nearby speaker so they are able to listen to music to help with any anxiety they may have. Also set to be part of the renovations is updated signage, ensuring there’s a more consistent flow as people go through the building, Murphy said. There are also plans in place for a new monitor to be installed on the wall to put out messages. “Our goal is to have a mini open house for the public at some point,” Murphy said. “We were lucky in the fact that for dogs, we were able to get a lot of them adopted out before the closure. A couple of them came back after being fostered, but we only had a couple dogs in this huge, new facility. We went up to, like, 27 dogs a couple days after we reopened, and they’ve been getting adopted quickly.” Due to having a higher adoption rate in Lake County, the Humane Society has been able to help other facilities that may be having an influx of animals, Murphy said. The staff has been encouraged to start working down the intake list. “We work with Animal Charity (of Ohio in Mahoning County), so we go there and help them with a lot of their long-term animals that they’ve had,” he said. Kuczkowski said it was quiet when the animals weren’t at Lake Humane due to the renovations, but staff members were excited to welcome them back into the new kennels and ultimately help them find their forever homes. “It’s a great opportunity to have new animals of all sizes,” she said. “They have more blocked vision, so they’re not as amped up from one another. The feedback we’ve gotten has been nothing but positive. People have shared their favorite memories, said this was very needed and can’t wait to come see.” Since Barnes has come on as the executive director, he has focused on showing the community what resource the Humane Society is to them. “The thing that really stuck with me is our goal not to have animals end up here,” Murphy said. “We’d rather be more proactive in helping people in the community by offering our wellness clinic, behavioral classes and our food pantry to help people feed their animals.” While the goal is to not have animals end up at Lake Humane, when they’re there, they have a great experience until they are able to find a new home, Murphy said. “This has been a great way to kick off the new year,” Kuczkowski said, “and it brings new motivation to volunteers to get involved with us.”