Scouts help clean up at TRACS

As the community continues to recover from the historic windstorm that swept through the county nearly two weeks ago, many of the local businesses and residents are still in the process of cleaning up from the excessive damage they witnessed. Thompson River Animal Care Shelter (TRACS), was hit particularly hard during the windstorm, and much of that damage can still be seen, even when driving by. However, not all hope is lost for the crew at TRACS, as they work diligently to get the shelter safe once again for their rescue animals.

A group of young boy scouts from Bonners Ferry, Idaho, reached out to Wanda Thorpe, TRACS operational manager, to see if they could lend a helping hand. Si Thompson, and his wife, Val, contacted Thorpe to see what needed to be done. Val, a teacher at Boulder Creek Academy in Idaho, organized the event, as the academy partners with the shelter to incorporate a dog training program into their curriculum. "We've been partnering with the academy for three or four years now," Thorpe said. "Working with the animals helps give the boys a little extra exuberance that they need in their lives." Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, they students at the academy were unable to help this time around. That's when Si, and the boy scouts of troop 114B of Bonners Ferry, stepped up to the challenge. Even with finals coming up, Riley Thompson, the scout leader's son, and two other boy scouts made the drive over to Thompson Falls on Sunday morning. The group helped rake up debris and branches, and broke out the chain saw to remove the trees that damaged the shelter's perimeter fence. "It's just nice to get the boys outside helping again," Val said.

While this altruistic endeavor of helping the shelter, rings true for the heart of the Thompson family, as they adopted their family dog from TRACS; the boys, Riley, Jason and Jace, also get to put Sunday's work towards their community service hours, a requirement as they move up the ranks in leadership and community service. As troop 114B did such a great job helping to clean up TRACS, Thorpe extended an invitation to Si and the boys to come back and help at the shelter whenever they needed more community service hours. Even though they were working outside, the group made sure to wear masks and socially distance themselves from one another, and even went a step further and took separate cars as they hauled off all the branches and tree limbs to the landfill.

"We have been working nonstop," Thorpe said. "We had a lot of damage here." TRACS is working on fixing and securing the perimeter fence, and tackling the roof leaks on the puppy den.