Three interns for the Athens County Dog Shelter met with the Athens County Commissioners Tuesday to request a proposal to raise money for the shelter.
In a project aptly titled “Trimble Adopts a Dog Shelter,” three Trimble High School seniors — Cody Bragg, Jamie Dillon and Brandi Lanning — created a goal to raise $10,000 for the Dog Shelter during the course of a year by obtaining sponsorships and donations from local businesses and residents.
“We have plenty of ideas for how to raise the $10,000,” Bragg said during the presentation. “We could pass out flyers to spread awareness at each home, or we can approach local businesses and see if they’d be interested in sponsoring us.”
The students also recommended implementing “donation stations” where kids at local schools could paint or draw pictures for small donations.
“We want to try and get sponsors so we can raise money for food and clean supplies at the dog shelter,” Lanning said.
Each of the shelter’s 35 stalls costs $25 each month, meaning the students must raise $875 a month and $10,500 for the entire year — hence their $10,000 goal.
The commissioners were all on board with the proposal and ultimately approved the request.
“This is great; some of the donations could go toward spayed and neutering, which we’ve been working on for a while,” Commissioner Larry Payne said. “This could be a big help to the dog shelter and help us out in the long run.”
Though the project currently involves the Trimble High School interns, the students hope to include other districts and schools in Athens County, Athens County Dog Warden Jeffrey Koons said.
“Including other districts will help raise more money and get more sponsors,” he said.
Also involved in the project are internship coordinator Donna Jensen-Besaw and local advocate Roxanne Weekley.
“When they approached me with the idea, I was immediately on board,” Weekley said. “I love dogs.”
This is the first year of the internship at Trimble High School and the school hopes to continue it next year, Jensen-Besaw said.
“These kids did this project all by themselves, and it’s really great what they’re doing,” she said.
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