An inspiring young animal lover baked up a storm to bring some much needed dough into the hands of the Coastal Animal Rescue and Education Network.
Hannah Dennison, 9, recently raised over $200 for CARE’s new Mission Pawsible mobile vet clinic through a bake sale at the Tofino Saturday Market.
“I really want animals to be safe, to have a home and to not be sick,” Dennison told the Westerly News. “I don’t want to see a cat or a dog without a home just running around the streets.”
Dennison has a dog named Luka and a fish named Shadow and said she has always loved animals.
“When I’m with them, I feel so happy,” she said, adding she hopes to see more local kids like her helping to make a difference.
“It’s cool because then they can feel good about doing something…I think it will make them feel good and also it will help lots of animals.”
Dennison had been inspired to put the fundraiser together after seeing all the local efforts that went into hosting the Bruhwiler Kids Surf Classic event, so she came up with her own plan to raise money for local animals and executed it.
“We were just thrilled,” CARE co-founder James Rodgers told the Westerly. “The support in these communities is great and seeing the young people who love animals stepping up and finding ways that they can help is nothing short of inspirational.”
He added Dennison has inspired him to think of more ways to involve local youth in CARE’s fundraising efforts and volunteerism.
“It has made me think harder about how we could maybe start an animal club for the young people so they could be helping more animals in different ways. I love that they have the creativity and entrepreneurial inclination to find ways that they could help animals,” he said.
“My first thought with these things is, ‘Great. Now if I get eaten by a feral cat, there will be someone to take over.’”
He added the West Coast has an engaged youth population growing up in communities driven by volunteerism and giving back.
“We have a higher than average percentage of volunteerism. There’s a strong sense of volunteerism generally in our communities and I think that certainly carries on to the youth,” he said. “It’s just sort of a natural progression really of young people loving animals and us having all these animals needing help. The more we can get organized to work with the youth the better…We’re really excited about what we can all do together going forward.”
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