Kids Can Help Too

Click here to see what a few kids are doing!

Kids are our future and they can help to make our furry friends' future brighter by becoming familiar with animal issues. Most shelters take volunteers over the age of sixteen for insurance and safety reasons. If you are younger, you can still help.

• Ask your teacher if your class can take a tour of the shelter as a field trip. Do you wonder where the animals come from, what happens to them and what it is like to work in an animal shelter? Come prepared with questions. There are booklets, movies and other materials for visiting students.
• Organize a blanket drive in your neighbourhood. Spring clean the closets at your home and bring the old linens to the shelter.
• Do your school oral or a school report on the problem of pet overpopulation.
• Ask the shelter if there is something your scout troop, girl guides or other group could do, such as collecting towels or blankets, distributing information about dog and cat care at a community booth, helping with a cleanup day on the shelter grounds, or organizing a pet food drive.
• Start a penny drive among your family and friends or with your class at school. Pennies add up and can help a shelter animal in need of veterinary care.
• Schedule a "We Care Weekend" with your friends where you can raise money for the shelter animals Spay and Neuter Fund. Some ideas are baby-sitting, lawn mowing, lawn weeding, having a lemonade stand, holding a car wash or bake sale.
• If you have old stuffed animals that you have outgrown, donate them for the puppies, who love to chew on them or the kittens who love to cuddle with them, once the plastic eyes and small parts are removed.
• Keep up to date on animal issues by reading books from your school library, public library, and the shelter library.
• Show others how to be a responsible pet owner by being one yourself.
• Some elderly people are not able to take care of their pets like they used to - offer to walk their dog for them or brush their cat.

These are just a few ideas for you to consider. Use your imagination and remember to check with mom or dad first before beginning a project.