Pictures With Santa at Hopatcong Pound

The Hopatcong Animal Pound is breaking in its new building by inviting residents to bring their pets and children for pictures with Santa on Sunday.

The event will be held from noon to 4 p.m., and will have animal control officer Dale Sloat dressing up as Santa Claus.

Residents can pay a $10 donation for a 5 x 7 picture with Santa. All proceeds will go to the Hopatcong Pound Project, an organization created by two residents last year to raise money for the animals at the pound and their supplies.

This is the first the community will see the new buidling since it went up last month.

The building, which costed over $30,000, was funded completely through donations from residents.

Ed Van Orden, one of the Hopatcong Pound Project co-founders, said he wants the community to see where all of their donations went and the progress the project has made.

"We hope to be up there just promoting what it is we're doing, showing people where it is and how far we've gotten with our project," he said.

Van Orden said the new building served as a shelter for displaced animals from Hurricane Sandy the past two weeks, with over 20 animals in there at one point.

He said he wasn't sure if the event was going to be able to go on because of the storm, but was able to get everything back and organized.

"We had quite a few displaced animals in there for the almost 2-week period," he said, "and we've just gotten everyone back to where they belong and were trying to clean things up for our photo op."

The event will be held at the Hopatcong Pound at the intersection of Durban and Flora Avenue on Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.

For more information about the Hopatcong Pound Project, visit its website.