Fruth Pharmacy is once again teaming up with the Lawrence County Animal Shelter to help out the dogs and cats housed there.

From now until April 12, the pharmacy is conducting a donation drive of money, food and supplies at its location on State Route 141 in Ironton across from the St. Mary’s Medical Center-Ironton Campus and its store in Proctorville.

Then from 2-4 p.m. April 11, the shelter will have a pet adoption at the Ironton location’s parking lot and another from 2-4 p.m. April 12 in Proctorville.

“They did this for us in October and did a whole big thing,” Melissa Nicely, shelter volunteer, said. “We got $160 in cash donations and they filled the back of our truck with food, treats, litter, what the public had donated.”

At the adoptions the shelter will take some animals on site along with a book of photographs of animals available for adoption.

Those photographs have had a far-reaching impact, shelter volunteers learned recently when a man from New Jersey came to Ironton to adopt a dog he had seen on the Internet.

“He had just lost his dog and Jessie reminded him of his dog,” Nicely said. “He had to have it. He was completely all for taking her. She had been here almost a month.”

He also had a backup plan if Jessie didn’t like her out-of-state home to let friends adopt her.

A few months ago the shelter started staying open on Saturday from noon to 4 p.m.

“It is hit or miss,” Nicely said. “We adopt a few cats, a few dogs. On the flip side we bring in more where we are open on the weekends. But it has been well worth our time. We do have a lot of foot traffic. They tell us how much they appreciate our being open on the weekend.”