Published March 28, 2009 08:41 pm -
Julia Avery recently celebrated her 10th birthday with a party. But, it was a different kind of party.

Maleah Stringer: Pet-food parties popular
By Maleah Stringer, For The Herald Bulletin

Julia Avery recently celebrated her 10th birthday with a party. But, it was a different kind of party.

She decided to have a Pet Food Party. She asked all her guests to bring a bag of dog food, cat food, cat litter or dog bones instead of a gift for herself.

Julia in turn donated the items to Animal Care and Control. Little Miss Julia donated over a hundred pounds of food.

When Julia was asked why she decided to do this she said, “I am worried that the animals might not have enough to eat. I have a dog and a cat at home and I take care of them. I know they can eat a lot of food and I wanted the homeless animals to have food too.”

It’s not all that often that we hear about kids doing this kind of thing. I don’t think it’s because kids don’t think of it. I think they think of things like this all the time just in a simplistic manner that we as adults tend to disregard. Maybe it’s because often we as the adults don’t encourage kids to commit acts of service because we have to help them. It’s just one more thing we have to cram into a busy day.

Often, I think we get so busy trying to survive in this economic freefall that we forget how good it makes us feel to take time out and do things for others. It’s easy to talk about it, to put it off but not so easy to actually follow through and commit to action.

There’s also the possibility that we make it too hard. It seems to be human tendency that if we can’t do a lot, we tend to do nothing. Sometimes it just takes a child who wants to help homeless animals and actually does it to remind us that we can help the world and ourselves with the act of giving in simple, creative yet heartfelt ways.

Encouraging kids to do acts of service and adults doing it with them might actually give us all the kinder gentler world that many wish we have on a daily basis. These children will in turn grow up and they’ll teach their children to do the same and so it passes on.

Thank you to Julia Avery for stepping up and helping the animals at Animal Care and Control. The animals thank you as well as the staff at Animal Care and Control.

Maleah Stringer, program director of Anderson Animal Care and Control, is also president of the Animal Protection League. She can be reached at maleahstringer @aol.com.

SOURCE:
http://www.theheraldbulletin.com/peopleandplaces/local_story_087204201.html?keyword=secondarystory