Dogs and cats at the animal shelter are feeling the holiday
spirit of students from Spring Grove School.
For the past 10 years, Librarian Roseann Forth has organized an
animal food and toy drive for the animal shelter. Students receive
a raffle ticket for every item they bring into the school to
donate.
Donated items include dog, cat and kitten food, blankets,
towels, Clorox bleach and paper towels for cleaning, towels and
toys.
Dogs and cats at the animal shelter are feeling the holiday spirit of students from Spring Grove School.
For the past 10 years, Librarian Roseann Forth has organized an animal food and toy drive for the animal shelter. Students receive a raffle ticket for every item they bring into the school to donate.
Donated items include dog, cat and kitten food, blankets, towels, Clorox bleach and paper towels for cleaning, towels and toys.
“It helps us offset costs of which the city is spending on our budget. The city is in a budget crunch right now,” said Julie Carreiro, animal control supervisor.
The animal shelter is especially in need of canned food since they offer a lot of dry food to the animals.
“We can’t provide canned food, blankets or toys,” Carreiro said.
Currently, the animal shelter has around 80 animals, but the number varies on a day-to-day basis. It provides shelter to 3,500 animals every year, Carreiro said.
Forth was in Oklahoma for winter break, but co-workers said she started the donation drive because she loves animals and has a close relationship with the animal shelter.
About one-third of Spring Grove’s 530 students brought in items since the drive started in mid-November. Thirty-one of them won prizes from the raffle, including candy and donated sunglasses from Cable Car Eyewear.
Eighth grader Bianka Perez participates in the drive every year.
“I like dogs. We have four,” Perez said. She brought in dog food, towels and blankets.
It’s important for Perez to donate to the shelter because her dogs spend time there when they get lost, she said.
If the city has to cut the animal shelter’s budget, it would have to cut the hours that it’s open to the public, Carreiro said.
“We wouldn’t be as accessible to the public,” she said.
