Helping Furry Friends Alma first graders donate to organization
On Friday, December 11 the first grade students at Luce Road Elementary in Alma were paid a visit by two “Furry Friends” that the students helped find new homes with their “Pennies for Puppies and Coins for Cats” program.
With welcoming “oohs” and “awws,” Bambi and Skippy, two Chihuahuas from the Gratiot County Animal Control who were recently adopted, stopped in to give their thanks.
If either of these “Furry Friends” was absent human care and love before, the first graders of Luce Road Elementary could have made it all up in a couple of minutes.
As Bambi and Skippy made their rounds, students could barely stay seated in anticipation of catching a close glimpse or getting their chance to pet the tiny dogs.
Some children couldn’t even wait to be called on to chime in about their pets or about what they learned about animals.
“I’m a big fan of Chihuahuas because I have one,” said Nicholas Galbraith, student in Mrs. Gott’s first grade class.
One student was even lucky enough to receive a kiss from Skippy, which one couldn’t help but wonder was this his way of saying thank you?
The dogs, who were welcomed to their new homes on Saturday December 12, were taken from room to room by “Help Furry Friends” representatives Maria Lott, Marie Green, and Gretchen Harrison and received the same welcome in each class they visited.
The students learned about how to make sure a lost pet is found and taken care of. They shared with the representatives different ways they had learned dogs can help humans such as Seeing Eye dogs.
The “Pennies for Puppies and Coins for Cats” program started in November after the students had been reading about animals, how animals can help people, and ways that people can also help animals.
As a way to help animals in need, the students began bringing in change in an effort to raise money for the “Help Furry Friends” program.
The students were able to raise $238.86 for the cause and first grader Caelob Adams of Mrs. Zehner’s class presented the check to Lott of the “Help Furry Friends” group.
“We would like to thank the children for their hard work in raising the money to help the animals and to their teachers for giving us the opportunity to visit with the children,” said Lott. “We enjoyed coming into the classrooms to talk about being a responsible pet owner and how important it is to care for their pets. The money that they raised will help us rescue dogs and cats from the shelter and help find homes for them.”
The “Help Furry Friends” organization is a non-profit organization formed this year by citizens of Gratiot County.
The goal of the organization is to promote shelter adoptions and to decrease the number of homeless animals by educating people about the benefits of spaying and neutering their pets.
They also promote responsible pet ownership, keeping pets vaccinated and healthy, and proper pet identification with the hope that all cats and dogs in Gratiot County will have homes.
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