Kid’s Korner

Kid’s Korner features stories about SPCA “juniors” and their activities and contributions, which benefit the SPCA pet community. These youngsters have been extremely generous and are greatly appreciated.

Our kitty Jeanette is resting happily in the arms of 8 year old Maddisen from Lewiston. She was able to raise an amazing $45 for our animals by collecting bottles and cans. Way to go Maddisen!!!                      July 2010

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Furrnando was excited to have the privilege of meeting lovely Elizabeth and Samantha today. These 9 year old girls held a garage sale and raised over $100 for the SPCA. They then took a trip to store and bought all kinds of goodies from our wishlist for the critters at our shelter. Thanks so much girls, what a fantastic job you did!!!

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Snappy Dresser

Winston is modeling one of many hand made bandanas donated by young Kaitlyn Fox of
North Tonawanda. Kaitlyn's mom worked on the bandanas and Kaitlyn lovingly created some cute hand made cat toys. Kaitlyn has expressed interest in continuing to produce these adorable items to help bring in donations for the SPCA critters. Thanks Kaitlyn, we appreciate your efforts!!!

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Scouts Stress Safety

Pictured above are members, and family, of Troop #833. (Mike Greaser, Steve Randall, Kyle Knab, Greg Scheisser, Michael Greaser, Dan Greaser, Ed Ammerman, and Patrick Brown. Also in attendance, but not pictured, was camera shy Beth Greaser). The "mastermind" of their project was Dan Greaser. He observed that the cement blocks surrounding our flower beds had come loose over the years and were now posing a safety hazard. He offered to spend a weekend "digging in" to fix the problem. Dan, and the other troop members, worked tirelessly in the heat and did an absolutely tremendous job!! We are lucky to have had the benefit of their manpower, for our flower beds look fantastic and the results appear professional!! Great work guys!!!

Above is Brandon Allgrim, (doesn't he look great in his sandals and sunglasses?). He donated the items pictured for our SPCA animals in memory of his family's dog, Lou. Thanks Brandon, I am sure Lou is extra proud of you!!       6/2010

At Niagara Wheatfield High School, Mr. Schucker’s marketing classes each created their own business.  They were created through the Junior Achievement company program that teaches students about owning and operating a real business.  The students learned that teamwork, communication, organization and dedication were crucial in order for their business to succeed.  The students were focused on creating a high demand quality product and offering it at a reasonable price.  The businesses mirrored real businesses and students performed tasks such as selling shares of stock for $2 each, electing officers to run certain aspects of their business, designing, producing, and selling their product, paying commissions to the students, and liquidating their businesses.  As with any business, we encountered several problems and faced some difficult decisions that ultimately provided insights, and practical knowledge of the business world and economic system.  All three businesses were successful and the students not only gained practical knowledge and real experience, but they also received commissions totaling over $1,800.

 Junior Achievement Company #1, Prestige Worldwide Inc., decided to sell Niagara Wheatfield shorts.  They sold 175 pairs of shorts and earned over $3,000 in gross profit. They donated $300 to Charity Water (a non-profit organization that provides clean water to developing nations) and also donated two Chinese auction baskets to local family fundraising events.  They also returned $5 per share to their stockholders on an initial $2 investment.

 Junior Achievement Company #2, RBW 2010, decided to sell Niagara Wheatfield wristbands and lanyards.  They sold over 360 wristbands and 440 lanyards and made more than $2,000 from sales.  They donated $400 to Niagara Hospice and also donated two Chinese auction baskets to local family fundraising events.  They also returned $5 per share to their stockholders on an initial $2 investment.

 Junior Achievement Company #3, FalconHub Industries, decided to sell Niagara Wheatfield water bottles.  They sold over 450 water bottles and made over $5,500 from sales.  They donated $500 to the Niagara County SPCA and also donated two Chinese auction baskets to local family fundraising events.  They also returned $6 per share to their stockholders on an initial $2 investment.

SPCA PICTURE

Presenting the check to the Niagara County SPCA’s Robert Schildhauer (Emergency Rescue Driver) is (left to right) Kevin Schucker (Niagara Wheatfield Marketing Teacher), Greg Janese (JA Company #3 - FalconHub Industries’ VP of Public Relations), Tamara Zeidan (Vice- President), Nick Hannam (VP of Finance), Alexxa Poliachik (VP of Human Resources), Danielle Dworzanski, (kneeling) Jeremy Chapman (VP of Marketing, and Dan Caro (JA volunteer from the Law Office of Daniel Caro).

HOSPICE PICTURE
Presenting the check to Niagara Hospice is JA Company #2 -  RBW 2010, (left to right) Co-president Rob Dorato, Mallory Zabel (Niagara Hospice Special Events Coordinator) and Co-President Amanda Breier.

CHARITY WATER PICTURE
Presenting the check to Charity Water is JA Company #1 - Prestige Worldwide, Inc. (left to right) Co-President Alley Yeates, JA Volunteer Corey Malstrom from the Legend Group, and Co-Co-President Karen Pierini.

We applaud the tremendous efforts and success of the students involved in these projects and thank them greatly for their donation!!! 

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Pictured above is 8 year old Matalyn Ott, "Miss Matalyn", of Niagara Falls. She engaged in a small project to collect items from our SPCA wishlist to help our shelter and animals. She and her "gramma", Liz Woods, dropped their gifts off at the shelter and also contributed to our cat cage fund to help purchase safe cages for our kitties. Thank you so much ladies, we are very grateful for your thoughtfulness!!

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Meet seven year old Sergey Dumphrey. He celebrated his birthday at Skateland in Lockport and requested his guests bring items for the SPCA animals instead of bringing gifts for him. He is pictured above with with the many items his birthday attendees brought. We thank him and his guests for their generosity.

Seen above with agent Bob and teacher Rob Olear are the members of the Starpoint Senior High School Sport's & Entertainment Marketing Class. They were involved in a fundraising effort for our SPCA and presented their donations to Agent Bob when he visited the class at the High School. We would like to thank Rob and his class for their kind efforts on behalf of our homeless pets!!

 
Ariel Senik of Gasport held her 10th birthday party in May and
invited her friends to help her help the animals. She is seen above with the wonderful items she and her friends were kind enough todonate to the animals and the shelter. We appreciate your kindness kids!!                                                                                 5/2010

Sweet Club

The members of the Sweet Home Middle School Store Club are seen above handing a $200 check to our Executive Director John Faso. The club members spent many early morning hours working hard to sell supplies to their classmates to earn the money to help our animals. A few of the kids even gave some monetary donations during their visit. They have chosen the bulk of their donation go to the purchase of a new ramp for our rescue vehicles (see ramp photo below) and the rest to be used for our emergency fundraiser for new cat cages. Thanks so much kids, that is Super Sweet!!!!

Store Club Members:
Lisa Brzeczkowski (Advisor), Molly Teti, Lindsay Faulks, Rega Zangana, Raul Toro, Tammi Muff, Matthew Mogensen, Olivia Hurst, Kianna Howell, Shelby Southerland, Angel Dickinson.
5/7/10

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New Dog Sponsors

The students of Ms. Rolling's class from Niagara Falls High School visited our SPCA today. They proudly dropped off money they had collected to sponsor our little American Eskimos, Kiki and Kaya!! Thanks so much, you are terrific!!!

  Learn more about our sponsor program

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Children's Mini Missions

The above boys are from Zion Lutheran Church in Gasport. They participated in a church activity called "Children's Mini Missions" in which the children choose to help various causes. Our SPCA was luckily chosen for this mission and Collin, Thomas, Zack and Nick can be seen holding a few of the many wonderful items collected by the boys to help the shelter and the animals. We really appreciate their kindness!!      5/3/10

Above are the girls of Daisy Troop #123 and Brownie Troop #258. They dropped by our SPCA and were met by Agent Bob and LVT Kari for a tour and a discussion regarding basic animal care. Wags was also on hand for pictures. Target had kindly presented the girls with a gift card to purchase items from their store, and the girls purchased food for the cats, dogs and our wild bird friends who visit our feeder daily. The girls also had fantastic results from a loose change drive and presented the SPCA with a check for $430.55. That's a lot of change!! The girls also collected many donations of items from our wishlist. Good job girls, the animals and the SPCA thank you!!      

                  4/2010
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Here is Troop #1355 came to visit our SPCA. They brought many wonderful gifts for the animals and for the shelter. Agent Bob took some time to chat with the girls about general animal care and basic animal shelter information. They then took a tour of the shelter to visit our homeless critters. Thank you girls, we enjoyed your visit!!
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SPCA Drawing Contest

The sad news is . . .

Due to lack of interest from local children, our pet drawing contest had to be closed a few days early.

The happy news is . . .

Our only two entrants, and their pets, both won!!!!

Nina drew us a picture of 3 of her pets and Julia drew us a picture of her cat.

 Nina’s pets are: Boo Boo, Taffy and Princess:

Julia’s kitty is: Hazel

The dog prize will go to Nina’s Princess, for she is the only dog in our contest, and the cat prize will go to Julia’s Hazel.

We also have Easter baskets with a fuzzy friend for each girl.

Thanks so much girls, you are  TERRIFIC!!!

Here is Nina!!!

We had one more entrant to our contest. Cierra Mt. Pleasant drew the following picture of her cat Milky. Cierra also received kitty treats to take home to her pet!!! Thank you Cierra!!!

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Teamwork!!

Above are some student representatives of Ms. Reddy's 5th grade class from Errick Road School in North Tonawanda. They dropped off this jumbo sized envelope, which contained an equally jumbo sized letter, along with numerous creatively decorated boxes filled with an amazing assortment of items from the SPCA wishlist. From cat food to glue sticks, dog toys to paper towels, they gathered it all to help our animals!! The student's self-proclaimed "grass roots" activism project was inspired through their reading of Jackie's Nine: Jackie Robinson's Values to Live By. Written by Sharon Robinson, the book relays the organization of mass donations in 1972 for the citizens of Nicaragua for earthquake relief. This effort was arranged by famous baseball player Roberto Clemente, who then gave the ultimate sacrifice when his plane crashed while on a teamwork mission to deliver food and supplies to Nicaraguan survivors, which ended his life. The children learned how one person can inspire many to work together to help those in need and make a difference in our world. We thank them heartily for making a difference in our world today!!

       Click here to read the wonderful letter from the class!!

These girls are also from Ms. Reddy's class. They dropped by the next day and brought more boxes of goodies and a bed for the animals!!

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THANK YOU!!

Above is 7 year old Daniel Pyskaty. He collected gifts for the SPCA animals from his birthday guests instead of having them bring gifts for himself. What a wonderful gesture Daniel!! We, and the animals, thank you so much!!      3/27/10

Meet Girl Scout Troop #295. They came to visit the shelter on March 18th and were treated to a tour and talk with Agent Bob. They also brought office supply donations. This was a tremendous help, for every penny not spent on office supplies is another penny free to be used for animal care. Thanks so very much girls, it was a pleasure to see you!!!

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Pictured above are 8 year old Emily and 5 year old
Ashton of the Velzy family. They took up a collection
for the SPCA at the Northgate Nursing Home. The nursing
home residents were very generous and the children also
brought some stuffed toys for our critters! Thanks so
much to all . Your gifts are greatly appreciated!!       3/22/10          
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 W.H. Stevenson Elementary

Agent Bob Schildhauer is pictured above with students from Mrs. Leardini and Mrs. Rotella's Fourth Grade Classes. Agent Bob visited the students on March 10th to discuss animal care issues and to chat about, and answer student questions regarding, the SPCA. The teachers state our agent did a fantastic job and everyone thoroughly enjoyed learning from him. The students and teachers also took up a collection for the shelter of pet food, treats, toys and general shelter supplies. They are seen above with their wonderful donations. We greatly appreciate their efforts and hope they visit our shelter soon!!
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   The Mice Who Made Mice!!!!        

The Pendleton Church Mice 4H Club dropped by to visit today. The club members are Alanna, Kate, Alissa, Dana, Jeff, Lisa, Emily, Justin and Josh!! They brought the animals some pet food, treats and cutest little homemade catnip mice!! (They even grew their own catnip to put inside the mice!!!) We really appreciate their hard work and kind gifts for our animals!!          2/27/10

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Meet Nina Livesay! Nina, and her camera shy brother Noah, read about our new doggie arrivals and wanted to help. They went right to their piggie banks and brought in a donation to help feed those many hungry canines!! We thank them very much for their kindness!!!                                                     2/20/10

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Girl Scout Troop #70910 from Niagara Falls kindly dropped by the shelter today and brought goodies for all the animals!!! Thanks girls, you are great!!!                                 2/20/10

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These special youngsters are the Girl Scout of WNY Daisy Troop #141. They raised money by reading to the residents of the Northgate Nursing Home and chose our SPCA animals to receive what they had raised. Not only did they brighten the day of the elderly folks at Northgate but they brought some "sunshine" to our homeless pets!!

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We were pleased to meet 9 year old Patrick Sheelar of Middleport. He recently visited our shelter with food donations for the animals. We appreciate his kindness!!!

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Above is another amazing young lady who asked her birthday attendees to bring gifts for our SPCA animal instead of gifts for herself on her birthday. Ashley Jane Ann Broderick turned nine years old this past November. She stopped by today to deliver them and to visit with the animals. What a wonderful gesture Ashley!!!
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Pictured above are the St. Onge's: 6 year old Mackenzie, 10 year old Hailey and 13 year old Celsey. They stopped
by today with many gifts for our animals, including soft fleece blankets to help keep our critters comfy and warm!!
Thanks so much girls!!!
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These girls are the Daisy/Brownie Troop #70133 of the Niagara Falls Service Unit. They came to our SPCA and were
treated to a talk and tour with our agent Bob. They also came with many gifts for the animals and the shelter. We appreciate their visit and hope to see them again soon!!!                                                          2/9/10
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Inside our Mascot costumes above are two area students, Justin Leathers, a 10th grade student who attends Niagara Catholic, and Christopher Boryk, an 8th grade student who attends St. Andrews. They chose to fulfill a school project by generating donations for the SPCA in front of Sam's Club. They were a huge hit and collected a considerable amount for the SPCA animals!! What a great idea guys!!!                                           1/18/10

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Meet Sara and Kayla. They are 6 years and 4 years and were kind enough to come visit our animals and to bring a donation, also!! We really appreciate your visit and you kindness!!!

Meet Samantha Scrivano. She organized an extremely successful collection drive at the Wilson Middle/High School for our SPCA. Students, teachers, family and friends worked together and collected a tremendous amount of food, biscuits, treats and toys for our furry friends. Samantha (and the SPCA) would like to say thanks to all who helped make this collection drive a success. Great job Samantha!!!!!                                                                                                  12/09
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A special group of youngsters came to visit this Christmas and brought special gifts for our dogs. They worked hard to decorate and fill over twenty bags with delicious doggie bones for our homeless pups. That's was a lot of hard work for these 4 year old pre-school children, who are from the Pre-K After School Program at Desales Catholic School!! We thank them for the effort extended and the time they spent to make our doggie's Christmas a better one!!!! I'm sure Santa is awfully proud of them also!!!                                                                                                                       12/09

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This is Aliyah. She recently celebrated her 8th birthday with a very kind act. She asked her birthday guests to bring presents for our shelter animals instead of gifts for herself. Our critters appreciate her kindness!!                        12/16/09

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Generosity and a love for animals must run in this family. Above is Justin and he celebrated his 5th birthday by asking his guests to bring items for the SPCA animals in lieu of birthday gifts for him. In September his sister had asked her birthday attendees to do the same. What a wonderful gesture!!!                                12/14/09                 

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Stop by our front page to see Troop # 151. They stopped by 11/16/09 for a tour and talk. They brought many items greatly needed and appreciated by us!!! Thanks girls!!!

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We would like to extend our congratulations to the middle-schoolers at Dr. Martin Luther King Multicultural Institute in Buffalo. They were involved in the Hip Hop for Hounds contest sponsored by the Humane Society of the United States. The contest asked for people to write and perform their own rap song. The catch? The rap had to speak up for dogs-against dogfighting. The above children wrote a rap titled "Unite". It's from the point of view of a dog named Plato:

Playful Plato he likes to run
Treat me nice without a gun
No bleeding and teasing
Just make it fun
We can all work as one
Do it right and it all can be done.

Great job kids!!!! Visit humanesociety.org/kids for more news of children helping animals!!!

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Check out what Jenna brought our animals! For her seventh birthday Jenna asked her birthday guests to please
bring items for the shelter animals instead of gifts for her. Our animals received food, toys and supplies, thanks
to Jenna's kindness and love for animals.                                                             9/22/09
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Here is another generous young girl who recently turned nine. Aurora Klaus asked her to friends to bring donation items from our wishlist instead of birthday gifts for her. It takes a really special personality to be so selfless, (and looking through Kids Korner you can see how many wonderful kids have done this)!!! Thank you so very much Aurora. The animals and staff can sure use the many items you brought to us!!!                                                                                                                              8/17/09
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Look what 9 year old Samantha Cirrito brought us!!! She celebrated her ninth birthday and decided to donate items to the SPCA instead of receiving gifts for herself. We received a much needed swimming pool for our dogs to use in the play yard, along with food, treats and toys. Thank you for your kindness Samantha!!!                                                      6/30/09
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6/26/09: A representative of the students and families of the pre K through 6th grade children from G.J. Mann Elementary School dropped by our shelter today. The children were involved in a school project, and a collection was taken up for items to benefit the SPCA animals. The project was a great success and our critters received many new toys, bags of food and tasty treats!! Thanks so much to all of you for keeping our furry friends in your minds and hearts!!   
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Above is a caring young man named Brandon Maggiore. He recently had his First Communion and used the monetary gifts he received to purchase some MUCH needed kitten food for our homeless baby kitties!! Thanks so much Brandon, that really helps us out!!!
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Girl Scout Troop #849 visited our shelter today and put together two very beautiful planters for us!! Thank you so much for your time and effort, girls!! These flowers will be enjoyed by our visitors for months to come!!!                                 5/30/09
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The two youngsters pictured above are Anna and Sarah Yeager. (They are pictured with Shelley Richards). These animal loving girls, and their brother Matt, were kind enough to donate their hard-earned chore money to the animals at our shelter. $49.25!! That's a lot of chores kids!! Thanks so much to all of you!!                                                             5/30/09
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Meet Becky Dobrasz and her sister Susie. (Becky is to the left, in green). Instead of requesting gifts for her tenth birthday party Becky decided to ask her birthday guests to donate to our SPCA animals instead. Her gifts amounted to $450, WOW!!! What a special girl Becky is to have given up her birthday gifts for the benefit of these animals in need!!! Way to go Becky!

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