Wedding shower for Tilton cop & disptacher nets pick-up full of gifts for N.H. Humane Society

Tilton Police Officer Andrew Salmon and his fiancée, Tilton Police Department Dispatcher Brynne Johnstone, stopped by the New Hampshire Humane Society shelter on Meredith Center Road in Laconia Saturday with his Ford F-150 pick-up bed full of canine and feline supplies.

The couple is planning an April wedding. They recently held a ‘Jack and Jill’ wedding shower where invited friends were asked to bring something that could be used by the shelter. Judging by the dog and cat food, animal beds, cleaning supplies and other items the couple carried into the shelter, the response of Johnstone’s and Salmon’s friends was overwhelming.

Johnstone, a former volunteer at the Humane Society, was enthusiastically greeted by Lauren Richard and Tammy O’Neil, the shelter's canine and feline managers, respectively. The entire staff, led by Mary Di Maria, the Society's executive director, could not have been happier with the number and variety of the gifts.

According to Di Maria, this is the second time in recent weeks that about-to-be-married couples have used their up-coming nuptials to help the Humane Society. One day recently, Di Maria opened the mail to discover a number of checks in a single envelope, all made out to the nonprofit organization. According to the note that came with the checks, the contributions were the result of a couple asking wedding guests who felt compelled to give to them something to make a check out to the Humane Society. The result was a significant cash contribution.

Johnston has been a dispatcher for the Tilton Police Department for the past two years. Her fiancé has been a Tilton Police Officer for the past four years.

Johnstone admits to a weakness for kittens and cats. She believes she has adopted at least a half-dozen over the years.

Asked about adopting a dog, she said the two had been talking about it. However, they have a very active, youthful German Shepard at home who makes the decision to bring another dog home one that requires careful consideration.

Johnstone and Salmon didn’t leave the shelter empty handed, however. They adopted another cat. According to Di Maria, the adoption is a happy beginning for a cat that had been abused before coming under the care of the Humane Society staff.

By way of follow-up to the Society’s post-Thanksgiving Day Adopt-A-Thon held at the Belknap Mall, Di Maria noted that the Canine Express Project has presented the N.H. Humane Society its Hoosier 500 Canine Award. The award was presented in recognition of the Society’s taking 568 Indiana shelter dogs and finding them adoptive homes.

The award was presented to the Society by the Canine Express Project’s Coordinator and driver.

The Canine Express Project rescues dogs from shelters in so-called ‘kill’ states and delivers them to ‘no-kill’ shelter organizations like the N.H. Humane Society in Laconia.