8th grade community service project...what do you think???

Ok all, I need brain power here. I just talked to Rosie at Southside Animal Shelter in Indianapolis (where we got Max and Sammy and Liz got Smokey Joe) and asked her about a Christmas project for my students, who seem to be pretty interested. I was thinking of making up stockings for the dogs and cats at her shelter since they live purely on donations and we were brainstorming on ideas of what to put in them. She said they NEVER get rawhides and chewy treats like that, so that's a given, I was also thinking of dog and cat toys, treats, leashes, collars. Any other nifty ideas floating around out there in Pet Talk World???

Sounds like you have some great ideas. I'm sure you know, but Big lots and Dollar Stores are great places to get toys and leashes. What would really be neat is if the kids could go spend an afternoon with the animals, but with liabilty and all that prob isn't possible. I have s recipe for "Magic Liver Cookies" that aren't too hard to make and dogs go nuts for if you are interested.

Really sounds like a good project. Good luck!

Anything would be appreciated. We got 13 leashes at the dollar store and they are four foot leads about an inch thick and leather with sturdy clasps. How they ever got them for that price is beyond me. That's a great idea though. Thanks!!

What about dog/cat brushes and combs.

Well, here is the situation at our shelter every year. I know people mean well, and we are always thankful for their generosity, but we end up getting a LOT of stuff at Christmas time that we really can't use.

For example, everyone wants to get something cute and fun, and I understand that feeling. So, people buy fuzzy mice and balls with jingle bells in them for the cats, and squeaky rubber toys and collars with jewels on them for the dogs. So, in January, we have the HUGE pile in our back room .... 189 fuzzy mice, 274 balls with jingle bells, 58 rubber squeaky toys, and 71 fancy collars. And ... we have no laundry soap, no bleach, and are a month behind on the electric bill.

If you REALLY want to help the shelter, ask them what they need MOST. Even if it is not necessarily fun or cute, it truly will do the most good for the animals in the long run.

Here are some examples of things that people have donated to our shelter that made us want to weep with joy and hug them: Two large tarps we used as sunshades at mobile adoption days, pet taxis for trips to the vet, a pair of clippers and some extra blades, Frontline flea and tick stuff, bleach, laundry soap, paper towels, disposal rubber gloves.

And the best thing yet - one of the fourth grade classes here made stationary and sold it as a fundraiser. They took the money they made, and donated a check to us, made out payable to our veterinarian. This was a lifesaver! And the kids still had fun.

P.S. We don't give our dogs rawhide or chewies at the shelter, for a couple reasons. First, because they don't get it often, they are complete gluttons. We can't supervise all the dogs while the are chewing on them, and we worry about them swallowing a large piece or choking. Second, they tend to get in big, horrid fights over them, and we don't need a vet bill to patch them up.

I see your point Twisterdog, but I also think it is *extremely* important to have those furry mice and balls, etc. The animals' mental health goes down the drain if they don't have anything to do in their cages. I think blankets and toys are first and foremost the most important things. There's a ton of other things like paper towels, cleaning products, etc that are soooooooooo helpful too. But that also varies from shelter to shelter so a good idea as you said would be to ask the shelter. For a fourth grade class though, I think toys would be a fun thing for them to get. Also you could get some of them going on the homemade dog and cat treat receipes.

There's those donations that help the animals directly and those that help indirectly. I'm not sure if fourth graders would understand just how much those indirect donations help. Maybe I'm not giving them enough credit though. Its been a long time since I was in fourth grade :o

Sounds like you got lots of great ideas already, Molly. It would be great if you could have a field trip to the shelter, but other than the liability issues, I am not sure how it make affect the kids. Perhaps a few dogs can be brought to the school for a visit?

Maybe they could make stockings & put homemade treats & toys in them & sell some for $$ for the shelter & take some of them to the shelter for the dogs there? If they could get their parents to donate blankets, towel or cleaning supplies, food...anything, that would be great too!

Well, to answer a couple of questions....I talked to the woman who runs the shelter last night to ask her if she wanted to participate and what it was that she thought would be best to give them. She stated that they never got "chewy" treats like rawhides or bones.

Aly...the kids are in 8th grade not 4th, so they're a little more able to comprehend what's going on.

Souraya, unfortunately, the shelter that I chose is in southern Indianapolis and is almost 3 hours from where most of the kids live since I teach on the north side of Fort Wayne, so it wouldn't be feasible to take a field trip. The reason I didn't choose a shelter here in Fort Wayne is because my relationship with them is at best, shaky.

Thank you all for your ideas...I plan on implementing them with the kids and they are looking forward to the project.

I think that this project is such a great idea and you are doing a great job! I don't know if I ever would have came up with an idea like that for a project. Now, I'll try to keep it in mind for future ideas. Plus, this way I have ideas of what to donate to local shelters! Thanks!

What a wonderful job you are doing, Molly!! What a great project.

This may not be a fun suggestion, but the shelter near me always needs newspapers for lining cages and such.

Everything else I could think of has been mentioned (blankets, towels, leashes, collars, cleaning supplies, food, home-made treats, carriers, etc. ).

I decided to just start it now and just continually collect stuff until nearer to Christmas. I'm going to go and get a cheapy garbage can to put in my room to collect the stuff. I never thought about brushes and combs....good idea...I'll add it to the list. Thanks for everyone's support...I appreciate it. The kids seem to be pretty interested too. I'm getting excited now.

Molly Ann, That is a great idea and your class will be making a big difference to help animals.

If your going to have a large type can for pet toys/supplies the kids could give toys/grooming supplies and also supplies from home such as old towels soap ect. Would the shelter let you "follow" the story of a dog from his stay in the shelter to his forever home (of course this would have to be a dog that gets a home!) And also a lesson on what can happen if a dog/cat is not taken care of by his/her owners but is lucky enough to end up in a shelter.

aly, oh, I agree ... toys and blankets are very important! It's just that people sometimes don't realize .... we generally house about 30 cats and 30 dogs at any given time, and we have a stockpile of about 200 cat toys, 200 dog toys and 300 blankets all the time. :)