Arshanni Smith, age 8, shyly extended her hand to pet the head of Mr. Wiggles, who with owner Carlene Coury of the Humane Society of the North Bay was on hand at Smith’s school to accept 12 blankets crafted by Smith and her fellow students.
Around 50 students at Solano Widenmann Leadership Academy in Vallejo created 12 blankets for the dogs at the Humane Society as one of the school’s Leadership Day projects. (For those not up on canine lore, a dog blanket is a piece of fabric designed to provide warmth, comfort, and a soft surface for a dog to sleep or rest.)
Mr. Wiggles wagged his tail, seemingly as a thank you, and Coury, a Humane Society volunteer, shared a human acknowledgement during the presentation at the academy on Corcoran Avenue.
“We’re so pleased,” Coury said. “It’s great for the dogs — and the kids.”
Second- and third-grade students at the Academy worked together to create the blankets, which were made out of fleece, their teachers explained.
“The students had to learn how to measure correctly and use scissors to cut,” said second-grade teacher Jennifer Wheelhouse.
The students raised the money to purchase the fleece, said third-grade teacher Melissa Nilson.
The money was raised via the Solano County WE Recycle! Challenge, an annual recycling competition which takes place across the county during the school year. Third-grade classes in Solano County earn money by collecting cans and bottles with the CRV symbol.
“We had recycling bins throughout campus. The students had to collect the recycling and it had to be sorted between the plastic and the aluminum cans,” Nilson said. The recycling is then taken to the Devlin Road Recycling and Transfer Facility in American Canyon.
The students raised around $200, Nilson said. About $60 was left over and as a nod to cat people everywhere, that money was used to purchase cat toys as well as dog toys for the Humane Society.
Arshanni Smith poses at the Solano Widenmann Leadership Academy in Vallejo. Second- and third-grade students made blankets for dogs at the shelter on Monday. (Janis Mara – Times-Herald)
“In the bigger picture, this was one of our Leadership day Projects,” Wheelhouse said. “We are a leadership academy and we have a very big culminating leadership day at the end of the year on April 24.”
The students themselves came up with the idea for the project.
“We are always thinking of who we can support,” Wheelhouse said. “This year we decided we wanted to help Humane and we brainstormed with the students and they said, ‘Oh, blankets would be really nice.’”
“This is a wonderful outreach program, for so many reasons,” Coury said. “It’s especially important that the kids raised the money through recycling.”
