Seton Hill Students Help Humane Society
My name is Angela Palumbo and I am a currently a junior English major. For my honors capstone project I decided to do two things:
1) Collect towels, garbage bags, paper towels, bleach, gift cards, and laundry detergent for the Human Society
2) Take a group of five students to the Humane Society to help them walk their dogs.
Today, February 22, was the first of what will be many visits to the Humane Society to walk dogs. What started out as an idea has blossomed into what I see as a future passion. I love animals so much. Being about to help them in any way possible has made my day today. It was a wonderful break from the mundane Monday where I go to class and do homework. I felt that in some small way, I was making a difference in the animals' lives and also in the lives of the Humane Society workers. The dogs were so happy to get to go out on walks. Their tails were going, and they were anxious to be out of the cages.
I would be lying if I said that the dogs and the workers at the Humane Society were the only ones who benefitted from our visit. I felt a great sense of accomplishment wash over me after I left. While I was there, nothing else in the world existed but the dogs. My stress disappeared and I left a much happier person than I came in.
I also received good feedback from the people who helped me do it. Many of them made the event their Facebook status, commenting on the great dogs and their need for happy homes. These people also expressed interest in going out again to walk the dogs.
I have proposed to all those who are helping me that I make this activity a club. This club can partner with the Humane Society to aide them in walking dogs or anything else that they may need. We can take up collections. Also, the Humane Soceity holds events like the Cash Bash in which they have requested student help. I can definately see this idea going places other than where I had originally intended, and that's a good thing.
In order to help Humane Society Animals in your area you can:
1) Adopt a pet from there but only if you have the time, space, and dedication to make your home a "forever home" for the animal
2) Take up a collection around your school or workplace
3) Donate your time to a shelter. Ask them what they need and offer them your survices.
4) Raise the awareness of homeless animals by talking about adopting dogs and cats from shelters instead of the pet stores.
5) Encourage people to not impulse buy an animal. Many times people go to a pet store and see that "little doggie in the window;" they decide to take it home on the spot. In three months, and five pairs of chewed up shoes later, that "bad dog" is taken to a shelter because it is "untrainable." If you don't have the time to donate to training an animal, don't adopt one.
If you have any suggestions or additions, feel free to comment below.
Angela, this is such a great idea! If you're going back anytime please let me know I'd love to help out.
Also, in order to make this a club the paper work is REALLY easy. You can find the forms you need either outside the SHGA office or on Griffins Lair under Forms->SHGA and the form is called Club Recognition form. If you have any questions, feel free to stop by the student government office (Lowe 113, next to Campus Police) I have office hours from 11am-noon and am in there reguarly throughout the day if you need anything and our meetings are on Friday's at 3pm so if you get the form in before then, we'd be able to aprrove your club right away so you can start having meetings and stuff.
Hope you can use this information - this is such a great idea, good luck with your capstone!
Thank you so much for your help, Chelsea! I really appreciate it. I will stop down at SHGA. I will also put your name on the list for emailing. We are going down on Monday, March 15th at probably around 2.