PALMER ALASKA - For the love of dogs, The Iditarod Trail Committee, Inc., is teaming up with the Mat-Su community to help benefit the proposed $5 million upgrade of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough animal shelter.

“As Tough As They Come” will air for the first time before a Mat-Su audience this Friday at the Machetanz Theatre at 7 pm and Saturday at 2 pm.

The documentary follows the magical victory of musher Lance Mackey in the 2007 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Mackey not only won a battle with cancer, but also became the first-ever to win the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod in the same year.

The $10 ticket price will help furnish the Animal Adoption Center, what will become the heart of the newly restored shelter, where residents will get to know a potential life-long pet in attractive surroundings.

The animal shelter project is in the Borough’s proposed 2008 budget. The budget is expected to be adopted Wed. night. A certificate of participation, similar to a revenue bond, will pay for the construction. If approved, user fees will pay for a third of the project, and the non-areawide mill levy will fund the other two thirds. Residents of an average home would pay $15.60 the first year only, and progressively less each year. Mat-Su Mayor Curt Menard is a strong supporter of the project.

The existing shelter is 22-years-old and hasn’t kept pace with the Borough’s growing animal population. The shelter occasionally gets inundated with dozens of pets rescued from a single home. Recently 21 starving dogs were removed from an owner.

Lance Mackey will attend the Mat-Su premier Friday night as well as four-time champion musher Martin Buser. Both mushers support upgrading the dilapidated animal shelter and will talk about how critical a healthy shelter is to a mushing community such as the Mat-Su. Lance’s autographed bib #1 will be auctioned off both days.

Tickets for the premier are available in the Mat-Su at the following locations;

• Valley Performing Arts
• Cottonwood Public Safety Building
• Mat-Su Animal Care Shelter
• Mat-Su Borough Building, Palmer
• Wasilla Chamber of Commerce

The Machetanz Theatre is located in Wasilla Alaska at 251 W. Swanson Ave. Call (907) 373-8800 for more information.