This story will be in The Journal News and on LoHud.com tomorrow, but I give you all an early peak. It’s a way to help the Yonkers Animal Shelter raise money.

In the meantime, have a safe and happy new year.

The Friends of the Yonkers Animal Shelter could use a few more friends in its quest to win a $10,000 internet contest.
The nonprofit group, along with the funding committee for the new Yonkers Animal Shelter, are hoping that city residents will log on to www.care2.com and cast a vote for the aging shelter in America’s Favorite Animal Shelter Contest, which ends Jan. 31.
The groups hope to add the $10,000 prize to the $1 million fund-raising campaign currently underway for a new shelter that will be built on a 1.6-acre lot south of the county recycling center by the New York State Thruway.
“We have quite a distance to go,” said Kathleen Pistone-Carucci, the chair of the fund-raising committee, who would not say how much the committee has raised so far.
As of noon on New Year’s Eve, the Yonkers Animal Shelter languished in 70th place with 223 votes. The contest’s top vote-getter so far is Magnificent Mutts Rescue of Hillside, Ill. with 4,537 votes.
Pistone-Carucci voted in the Web site’s contest, but she and her collaborators haven’t had much luck getting others to log on.
“We’ve urged them, but we don’t have that kind of visibility,” she said.
E-mails about the contest have circulated among Yonkers residents.
“I think everyone and their brother involved with the shelter is passing it around,” said Julie Serensen, vice-president of the Friends of the Yonkers Animal Shelter.
In 2005 the City Council approved $2.3 million in borrowing to build a new shelter, which is envisioned to be 50 percent larger than the current, 48-year-old shelter on Fullerton Avenue.
As of Tuesday, the shelter had taken in 821 animals in 2008, mostly dogs and cats. Of those animals, 432 were adopted, 97 were returned to owners and 58 very sick or aggressive animals were either euthanized or turned over to animal-rescue organizations. There are currently 234 animals at the shelter.
Donations may be made to the New Yonkers Animal Shelter Fund c/o the Yonkers Department of Parks, Recreation and Conservation, 285 Nepperhan Ave., Yonkers, NY 10701-3495.

Reach Ernie Garcia at elgarcia@lohud.com or 914-696-8290.