Student Contributor -K. Bratager
SpokAnimal is an animal shelter that is dedicated to helping animals in need. They give animals a place to live where they provide them with care. They give them food, exercise, and health needs. Most importantly, they help these animals find forever homes.
SpokAnimal makes a difference because it helps animals in need. They take in animals from shelters, rescues and animal control. Many of the animals they take in are at risk animals. When SpokAnimal rescues these animals, they are saving their lives and giving them a second chance. These animals are in need of a loving and safe environment where they can get food and shelter. SpokAnimal gives that to them while trying to find them a permanent home. They not only help animals, but they help educate and provide training to volunteers, animal welfare workers and the general public.
here are many ways to partner with SpokAnimal. One way is through volunteering. Though it may be difficult for your students to volunteer, teachers can volunteer and bring back photos to share with your class. You can share with students which animals have been adopted, and keep them updated on news from the shelter. I think a great thing to do is to have the students make treats for the animals, then the teacher can bring those into the shelter and take photos of the animals eating the treats the kids made them. It is also a possibility to have a class donation for SpokAnimal. Parents and students can donate money, food or toys to the animals. Another idea, would be to send home newsletters to the parents with animals from the shelter that need to be adopted, and maybe somebody in the class will actually adopt one of the animals!
Another thing that I think can be brought up, not as a lesson but maybe as a long term mention is the new Bark-It Market located there. At the Market, people can donate items that they do not want and the people sell them. All the profits go to the Spokanimal shelter. At the orientation that must be attended by all new volunteers at least once, I learned that the Bark-It Market made $18,000 for the shelter in 2018. This was due to a mixture of the simple standard items that they sell on the main floor as well as higher end auction items that they keep tucked away. This was something that while people can’t volunteer yet, they can buy stuff knowing that the money they used to pay for the item(s) in question is going to helping these animals,
This was something I thought could also be mentioned to attract more people to this hidden store.