Cameron Elementary Students Collect 700 Items, Raise $500 for Marshall County Animal Shelter
Adoptable Dogs and Cats Now Free Through Saturday
CAMERON - Cameron Elementary School students collected more than 700 items and $500 for the Marshall County Animal Shelter.
Shelter employees Emily Novotney, a medical assistant, and kennel technician Kaitlin Snider, along with Patty, who is the pet dog of shelter Director Abby Bateman, were on hand Monday to receive the items during an assembly at the school's gym.
The collection was turned into a competition of sorts with the top three classes getting recognized for their efforts during the gathering. When the fanfare was over, the students got the chance to pet Patty on their way back to class. Patty was calm and quiet and mostly stood still while the children took their turns petting, patting and scratching her back and ears.
"Walking into the gym and seeing them have everything set up, it was amazing to see what the community did. The community and the students came together," said Cameron Elementary School Principal Catherine Folmar.
The donated items filled a large part of a stage and the floor below. Along with students and staff, community partners in the effort included Bridgestreet Restaurant, Cameron PT4Kids, Knights Farm Supply, Brandy Schafer and family, Lee Anderson, Sue Briggs, Cameron city employees, Bandits 4-H, American Legion and Lorri Grisell.
Folmar said the students sent letters to different businesses asking them to set up donation boxes for people to fill during the past few weeks.
"It's amazing the way Cameron always comes together to support good causes," she said.
The collection effort also included some classroom work regarding math and sorting skills, along with practicing teamwork. Teacher Machele Dunn said the activity taught another lesson, too.
"It's the holidays and we're just giving to others and they're learning how important it is to give back to the community," Dunn said.
Both Folmar and Dunn said it was fun to see how excited the students got each week when the latest tally of items were announced.
"It was a nice transition from learning to giving back," Folmar said.
Novotney was pleasantly surprised to see how much was collected by the students and community. The items included cleaning supplies, food and toys for the dogs and cats.
"We will definitely use all of it," she said. "The animals will love all the treats and toys and we love the supplies. We're glad they donated. We appreciate it."
The shelter recently announced that it is at capacity with adoptable dogs. In effort to get more dogs adopted out they started a 12 Days of Christmas campaign, offering dogs and cats for $12 each through Saturday. The shelter then announced just a couple days ago that the dogs and cats are now free through Saturday thanks to a generous donation from the Roseland Resort & Campground.