Alamo Elementary School - Pennies for Pets

ALAMO ELEMENTARY'S KINDERGARTEN CLASSES DONATE!!

About 85 children sat lined-up around the walls of the gymnasium of Alamo Elementary School recently, waiting for the arrival of Baytown Humane Society's representative and Woody, the ambassador for all rescued dogs!

The children represent the 4 Kindergarten classes at Alamo who participated in the Pennies for Pets program for Baytown Humane Society this year. This is the fourth year that Alamo has implemented the Pennies for Pets program, and these little tikes raised $210 this year! AMAZING!

They heard Woody's story and then were each given the opportunity to see, touch, and sometime get kisses from him, personally! It's hard to tell who gets more from that part - the children or Woody! Both enjoy immensely the contact!

Thank you so much Alamo Elementary for allowing and promoting Pennies for Pets to help Baytown Humane Society provide quality care for as many of the homeless and helpless animals in the area as possible. And, Thank You, teachers, for encouraging these young children to donate and support a worthy cause. It is such an important concept to show children this young, how small donations from many can add up to make a real difference in important work to be done.

Your kindness is appreciated by BHS and most certainly by the pets who will directly benefit from it! Oh, and, Woody says, " Woof-Woof!" (That means, "Thank You!")

PENNIES FOR PETS 2006

The Alamo Elementary School kindergarten classes of Ms. Tonya Franco, Ms. Javona Jordan, Ms. Sandra May, and Ms. Kristine Smith have once again executed a very successful "Pennies for Pets" program this year.

Pennies for Pets is a program started by Ms. Jordan several years ago whereby the opportunity for teaching children to count to 50 and teaching them to donate to a worthy cause, work in tandem to provide a wonderful donation to the homeless animals in the care of Baytown Humane Society!

Mrs. Javona Jordan introducing Lu-Lu and me

The children learn to count using pennies as counting tools and then, at the end of the semester, all the pennies are gathered as a donation to benefit homeless animals in the area. This year they collected 21,268 pennies!!!

This amounted to a wonderful donation in the amount of $212.68 to Baytown Humane Society!

Lu-Lu and I visited the school early one morning recently, where I spoke to the children about responsible pet ownership. Lu-Lu said a personal and up-close "Thank You" to these darling little tikes who collected and donated so much money to help the animals.

Lu-Lu says it's Awfully Early to be up and out!

We are posting some of the pictures here, so the children can see themselves on the Internet with Lu-Lu!

We are so grateful to these children and to these teachers who are teaching them things about what's important in life in addition to the standard educational fare.

The money that these children donated will make a REAL difference in one or more animal lives! This isn't a non-consequential donation... on the contrary, it's substantial...not only to the animals, but to the children as well!

Well, Lu-Lu was all excited to be in the room with so many adoring children and he really does LOVE these outings! He adores children and allows them to hug and kiss on him at will!

Besides... afterwards, he gets a little treat for being such a good ambassador for homeless animals everywhere! You know, Lu-Lu, too, once was homeless and found himself in the city pound. He has seen both sides of the homeless saga, and has decided that being healthy and having a home where he's loved and cared for is much more to his liking.

So, Lu-Lu continues to be spoiled and pampered as he deserves; and BHS continues to try to get as many homeless animals as possible into good homes. And, these school children are doing their part in helping us do that!

A cup of 'soft serve' was in order after leaving the school...

The people at Sonic love to see Lu-Lu coming, too! They always have his cup of ice cream ready!

Thank you, Children of Alamo Elementary, for your wonderful Gift to the Animals!

Marilyn & Lu-Lu

Pennies for Pets 2005

Ninety Alamo Elementary School kindergarten students raised $218.19 for the animals at Baytown Humane Society. Now, if that's not impressive enough, please know that this amount was accumulated in PENNIES! That's 21,819 PENNIES!!!

It's the latest in a succession of local schools who have instituted the "Pennies for Pets" campaign where the students learn to count to 50 by collecting pennies; and at the end of the term, all the pennies collected are turned into a nice donation check to Baytown Humane Society and dedicated to helping the homeless animals in the Baytown area!

This year, the Alamo students requested that Wade, the abused German Shepherd mix whose leg had to be amputated, come on behalf of all the homeless and abused animals that Baytown Humane Society helps to receive their contribution. Wade showed up in all his 3-legged glory and wowed the children with his beauty, his personality and with how he has not allowed his disability affect his life in any derogatory way!

The Children Loved Wade, and Wade LOVED the children.

So, a heartfelt, slobbery kiss from Wade and a sincere note of gratitude from BHS on behalf of the animals that will receive help because of this wonderful donation goes out to all 90 children in the kindergarten classes of Kristina Smith, Javonna Jordan, Sandra May and Dian Landriault at Alamo Elementary in Baytown.

The children presenting the BIG check to Wade and BHS are

Mikayla Auguste, Chase Sellers, Anthony Ortiz and Mason Page!

Thank you, children, for your generosity and kindness to animals; and

Thank You teachers of Alamo Elementary who realize there's more to teaching than just reading, writing and arithmetic! You are to be commended for teaching children about giving to good causes and about helping those less fortunate than themselves!

Your efforts are very much appreciated and your donation is gratefully accepted on behalf of homeless, sick & injured animals everywhere!

Marilyn Kinney, Chairman

Baytown Humane Society

March 23, 2005

First Annual 'Pennies for Pets' Campaign at ALAMO Elementary 2003

Thirteen Thousand Two Hundred Pennies!! That's how many pennies it takes to make $132.00 and that's how many pennies the 4 kindergarten classes at Alamo Elementary in Baytown raised for Baytown Humane Society and its work with the homeless animals of the region.

In an outdoor presentation ceremony, the classes of Kristina Warren, Sandra May, Dian Landriault, and Javona Jordan donated the money they had collected to Marilyn Kinney, Chairman of Baytown Humane Society.

Teachers, Kristina Warren, Sandra May, Dian Landriault,

and Javona Jordan with BHS Representative, LuLu!

These children have made a significant donation to the cause of helping homeless, sick and injured animals. And in doing so have learned that even doing something small can mount up, that it's good to give to others, and that animals deserve and appreciate kindness and respect offered to them.

The Children get a close up look at what their donations can do!

Marilyn Kinney, BHS Chairman, and BHS Canine Representative, Lu-Lu, say

"Thank You" to each child.

A representative of each kindergarten class stepped forward to give Ms. Kinney the check for $132. What a worthwhile lesson to learn at such a young age. Find something you believe is a good cause, work to help that cause succeed, and donate the proceeds of your work.

Rebecca Fudally & Tyler Martinez (holding the check),along with Adam Arnold & Genesis Torres were representing each of the 4 participating kindergarten classes.

This money is to be used to help pay for surgery and other medical care provided to a 5-yr-old dog named Brandy. The children have 'adopted' Brandy as their special-needs dog at the Humane Society.

~~ B R A N D Y ~~

Their donation is perfectly timed. Brandy came home from the animal hospital just 2 days earlier, after being spayed and having 3 mammary tumors removed. She also has heartworms which is very expensive to treat. The children's donation is a blessing to us and to Brandy. We hear that the children are writing a "get well" card for Brandy, too!

"THANK YOU" teachers and children in the kindergarten department of Alamo Elementary. You are teaching and learning the RIGHT stuff and your work and gift to the animals is very much appreciated!