PITTSBORO - Chef Greg Lewis and PBS’ Roy Underhill will host an open dinner at 5 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 19 at the former General Store cafe, to support Guardians of Angels’ plans to build an animal adoption center in Pittsboro.

Lewis is the new owner of the former café, now re-opening as the Pittsboro Roadhouse & General Store. The animal adoption center dinner will be the store’s first community event.

"We love our rescued dogs," Lewis said. "Supporting the vision of an adoption center comes naturally us. We plan on continuing in the tradition of community events set by the previous owners of The General Store Café.”

PBS’ Roy Underhill of “The Woodwright’s Shop” is campaign spokesperson for Guardians of Angels. Other speakers at the dinner include Kim Intino and Terry Dorsey. Intino, former director of the Shelter Services Program at The Humane Society of the United States will speak about other adoption centers around the country. Terry Dorsey, the catalyst behind Guardians of Angels, will speak about Guardians of Angels.

"The idea of an Adoption Center actually originated with former Animal Control Director John Sauls, now retired,” Dorsey said. "In a letter to the community Sauls wrote that the Animal Shelter simply does not have the room to keep adoptable animals long enough to see them adopted which is something and adoption center could do."

In 2010, and despite efforts by rescue groups and the Chatham County shelter, about five out of 10 dogs and eight out of 10 cats at the shelter were euthanized.

For more information or to RSVP for the dinner go to guardiansofangels.org.