The Lakeshore Humane Society received the most votes in the month of March in the Chautauqua County Clerk’s office Dress Down to Lift Up charity fund drive, which features 12 local charitable organizations.

The organizations with the most votes at the end of the year will receive monetary donations based on the amount of donations received.

As the top receiver of votes, the Lakeshore Humane Society is also the featured charity for the month.

Located at 431 E. Chestnut St. in Dunkirk, the Lakeshore Humane Society is a non-profit, all-volunteer organization and no-kill shelter dedicated to helping protect the welfare of all animals and providing humane education to the community. As the organization is all-volunteer, the adoption center is open for adoptions by appointment only.

The Lakeshore Humane Society was established in 1980 under the name of The Dunkirk Humane Society and later renamed as it expanded its area of service to include the entire north end of Chautauqua County. Many aspects of the organization have changed over the years, but its goal has stayed the same — to strive to get funding through donations and grants to support their spay/neuter assistance program and to help pay for operating costs, primarily veterinary bills.

The Lakeshore Humane Society has numerous fund-raising events and opportunities to bring awareness and much-needed funding to support the cause, including the inaugural, wildly successful Fur Ball held last year.

“All money raised by or donated to the Lakeshore Humane Society stays right here to help animals in need in our community, making it a perfect organization for our fund drive,” said Larry Barmore, Chautauqua County clerk. “It’s clear Chautauqua County loves their pets, as once again, the most votes went to support animals. During the month of March, a newcomer jumped into the number-two spot, however, with the Sinclairville Free Library gaining enough votes to edge out the Westfield Stray Cat Rescue.”

The charity with the most votes at the end of the year will receive the first $100 from donations received. The organization with the second-highest number of votes will receive the next $100 and so on until all donations have been distributed.

All charities included in the fund drive were nominated by staff with the criteria being charitable donations that retain donated funds locally to serve Chautauqua County communities. Other charities nominated by staff are: Northern Chautauqua Boys & Girls Club in Dunkirk; CASA of Chautauqua (Court Appointed Special Advocates) in Jamestown; Northern Chautauqua Canine Rescue in Westfield; Chautauqua County Humane Society in Jamestown; Sinclairville 76ers/Meals on Wheels in Sinclairville; Chautauqua County Rural Ministries in Dunkirk; Dunkirk-Fredonia Meals on Wheels and New Leash on Life in Celoron.

Four sites, which include the County Clerk’s office in Mayville and the three Department of Motor Vehicles offices in Mayville, Dunkirk and Jamestown, all collect donations in two ways: staff donates to “dress down” on Fridays and staff and members of the public donate to vote for their favorite charity at any one of the four locations.

During the month of March, the County Clerk’s office in Mayville collected the most donations, however, the Dunkirk DMV office edged just slightly above in total donations since the drive began in January.