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Here are a few things that other kids and teens around the country are doing to help animals.

Team Falcon is working to end the problem of pet abandonment in West Palm Beach, Florida.  Members of this club also regularly visit elementary-school classrooms to teach children about the needs of pets.  The classroom visits include games, quizzes and question-and-answer sessions about what people should know before they get a pet.  Team Falcon also distributes their original coloring books to students.  In the near future, Team Falcon hopes to take its message of commitment to pets to the airwaves by being on a local talk radio show.

The Humane Education Club of Phoenix, Arizona, has submitted a proposal for a strict universal animal cruelty law to every state senator in the country.  For Easter, HEC hides plastic Easter eggs with messages inside them around their school. The messages include tips such as “Save seven million lives a year. Spay, neuter, and microchip,” “Please do not buy a bunny or chick for Easter unless you plan on providing lifetime care,” and “Keep animals out of hot cars and do not transport them in the backs of pickup trucks.”   The student who found the most eggs won a giant plush rabbit!

As part of their humane education efforts, Youngsters Against Animal Cruelty teach people about the problems with animals in entertainment.  YACC also set up carts at local grocery stores to collect pet food for pets of low-income families and animals in animal shelters.  They collected about $6,000 worth of food.  They’ve also formed a partnership with Washington, DC animal shelters.  Members accompany humane educators to elementary-school classrooms to teach children proper pet care and compassion toward all animals.

Thanks to the Earth Kids Club, residents of Park City, Utah, enjoy the trails, plants, and animals at Treasure Mountain Nature Preserve.  The Earth Kids Club believes in setting an example and teaching the community about environmental and animal protection.  Each year, they host an Earth Day Fair at their school, with information booths on topics like recycling, rain forests, and endangered species.  They ask local businesses to donate prizes that they can raffle at the fair.  They use money from raffle tickets to help animals and the environment.  So far, the club has earned enough to adopt three wolves at a wolf sanctuary and save ten acres of rain forests through the Nature Conservancy.

Bruner Middle School's KIND Club in Fort Walton Beach, Florida believes the more, the merrier!  The club boasts dozens of members whose candy sales help pets in need.  KIND Club has established trust funds at local veterinary offices.  The funds cover emergency medical care for pets whose owners cannot afford to pay for these services.  The club also provides food for the pets of elderly people who participate in the community’s “Meals on Wheels” program.  Most participants live on a fixed income and might not be able to provide food for their pets without KIND Club’s help.

At the Minnesota Valley Humane Society, teen volunteers prove you can help animals, have fun, and make great friends at the same time.  Every year, MVHS holds a big walkathon to raise funds for the animals in our shelter.  Last year, they added a Pet Festival as well.  The Junior Volunteers promoted the festival and walkathon by making signs and displaying them around their school.  They also handed out brochures at local pet stores.  At the Pet Festival, they operated a face painting booth for children and a pond game for dogs.  A few of them even made pet beds, dog houses and toys to sell at the “Vendor Village” area of the festival.  They donated all the proceeds to the MVHS general fund.  

If you're a teen age fourteen or older, you can volunteer at your local Humane Society.  Volunteers groom, walk, and play with the dogs awaiting adoption.  The dogs love the attention and exercise, and the walks help them maintain their housetraining routine.  Volunteers also teach the dogs basic obedience skills.  All that positive human interaction makes the dogs more adoptable!

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