Students use caring hearts to help animals

By Marlene J. Bohr
mbohr@steelcountrybee.com
 
The saying “if your heart is larger than normal, it is probably because you are an animal rescuer,” fits in well with three Hughes Springs High School juniors and an added bonus of 106 second grade students. The idea to help animals came to Katie Lindsey, Leanna Bartuska, and Chloe Hall, members of Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America. Teacher, Regina Calcote said she is proud of the girls and their project.
“They chose this topic because there is not normally a big concern about it at school,” Mrs. Calcote said. “They wanted to reinforce how we should act toward pets to show the younger children. The girls have worked really hard on this project; I am pleased with what they have done in a short time. They have organized a fund-raiser involving our second grade students to collect pennies to donate to the Humane Society. They called and set up a time for the Humane Society to come to the school and talk to the second graders.
“The competition began with the five second grade rooms to bring the most pennies to school for the animals. The room with the most pennies won a pizza party given by the three juniors.”
Laura Romine of the Humane Society of Marion County in Jefferson said she thought the idea was wonderful.  
“Not only are they having students bring pennies to school, they are asking people to clean out their closets and donate to the Humane Society,” she said. “This will help so all the animals will have fresh blankets and sheets. We go through a lot of linens when we change daily and sometimes twice a day.
“The girls have been down to the Humane Society and have volunteered on a weekend to walk animals and help feed them.
“Then we received an email asking if we would visit the second graders and tell them how to choose the correct pet, care for the pet, safety around animals and so on.
“We feel if we could start targeting the younger kids and teach them responsibility and the importance of veterinarian care, it would pay off. We hope to break the cycle of animal abuse and teach spaying and neutering of pets so the younger ones have a good basis when they are older.”
Ms. Romine and a co-worker visited the second graders on Feb. 6, bringing with them a dog and a snake.
“I don’t know if that was in the minds of Katie and her friends, but we thought it was wonderful,” Ms. Romine said. “The girls said they had raised over $500 in pennies from the second graders and were working on rolling the pennies into rolls.”
Mrs. Calcote said FCCLA is about leadership.
“These girls have organized this fund-raiser and visit by the Humane Society,” Mrs. Calcote said. “They have stepped up to be leaders in this cause.”