Paws for Celebration at the Historic Spillian Estate

By Robert Brune

FLEISCHMANNS — This past weekend, the Heart of the Catskills Humane Society (HCHS) held their annual spring fundraiser at the iconic late 1900’s Victorian Spillian venue. Director of Operations at HCHS Deb Crute and her staff were buzzing with activity working to make it special for everyone attending this standing room only event. Crute was kind enough to take a moment to speak with the Mountain Eagle to share about the fundraiser and appreciation of Leigh Melandern of Spillian, “We cover a lot of area for animals that we are responsible for, so we try to include different areas and communities. We do lots of events in different areas because we try to be inclusive. We are fortunate that Spillian was available this year for us to hold our spring event for a second year here.” While interviewing Crute, a participant joined the conversation by saying, “I just wanted to say that I got my best dog in my whole life at the Heart of the Catskills. I come every year in Jupiter’s memory”

Crute said it’s kitten season, “We are always looking for people to foster kittens for us. We are always looking for assistance for people to help keep them in their homes, help keep kittens healthy and socialize with them. Then we get to put them up for adoption.” She went on to emphasize that their foster network is critical to HCHS because they often find homes for the kittens.

Leading up to the auction, Adam Ippolito, the brilliantly entertaining musician who performed for many years with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, performed classic songs such as ‘Imagine’, ‘Lady Madonna’ and ‘It Was a Very Good Year’. Ippolito was thrilled to participate, “It is a beautiful place, I love Spillian. It was a terrific turnout. People were very appreciative of the music, and we all had a great time.”

Owner of Spillian Leigh Melander moved to Fleischmanns sixteen years ago and came to the Catskills with two older dogs to start their business, losing them quickly after they moved to the area. Melander speaks to her connection to HCHS, “We stumbled into the Heart of the Catskills and found Riley who was the first dog that we adopted from them. Over the years we have adopted three dogs and a cat. We have lived all over the country and it’s one of the best run Humane Society’s we’ve come across. They are managing a very challenging situation with animals in need and not always enough adopters. So, they are our first place to go look if we’re looking for another critter in the house.” This being the second year hosting the fundraiser for HCHS, Melander said, “All of our staff here at Spillian have adopted animals from them. We would be happy to host a third year.” Spillian hosts all sorts of events such as weddings and family gatherings, and Melander said it’s important to her and her husband to contribute to the community in every way they are able. The generosity of Melander and those that attended this event was prevalent as the auction was able to take in thousands of dollars on this unseasonably chilly day.

For more information on HCHS see www.heartofthecatskills.org

May 16th and 17th is the HCHS rummage sale in Delhi

For more information on Spillian see www.spillian.com which also has a great description of the history of the venue.