St. Lawrence students donate to dog pound

From a young age, the students who attend St. Lawrence Elementary School are taught to focus on service to others.

While others generally means people, for the students of Pam Main’s third grade class the others included our animal friends.

So, the kids spent two weeks gathering everything from food for the dogs and cats at the Lawrence County Dog Pound to kitty litter to special items to make them comfortable.

Melissa Nicely, deputy dog warden at the Lawrence County Dog Pound, was at the school on Dec. 14 to take the collected goods.

“We are so tickled with everything the kids have given us,” she said. “The dogs and cats are going to be so happy for Christmas. There are all kinds of treats, they brought blankets in and special snacks. They’ve done a great job. They thought of everything.”

Nicely said that the donations will help a lot.

“Dog food and cat food is always needed at the pound,” she said. “We were actually getting low on puppy food because we’ve had quite a few puppies. We always need cat food. So it is really going to help out.”

She said it would probably feed the dogs for two weeks and the cats for at least that long.

Third grade teacher Pam Mains said her students picked the project.

“They are all pet lovers, they all talk about their pets, they all love pets,” she said, adding her and her husband, Lou Mains, often have to take cats that they find left in their alley to the pound. “We’ve also taken them supplies, so we thought it might be a good pet project to do here at St. Lawrence. So that’s what they did.”

She said she was impressed by the amount of donations the students gathered.

“Oh my goodness, they went above and beyond on anything I could have imagined,” Mains said. “They have really outdone themselves. All the families carried in so much stuff and it is deeply appreciated.”

Anyone interested in adopting an animal from the Lawrence County Dog Pound, can visit from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday-Friday. Adoption fee is $50 for a dog and $12 for tags, if you live in Lawrence County. The adoption fee for cats is $20. All animals have their first shots and have been dewormed.

It is located at 1302 Adams Lane in Ironton.

Nicely said the pound is always looking for donations and it can be dropped off during business hours or they can contact them on their Facebook page, Friends of Lawrence County Dog Pound, and schedule an appointment for donations to be picked up by volunteers.