Barking Points: Food for Furry Friends Drive to benefit Pet Rescue

2014 is in full swing at Lind-Ritzville Middle School as students resume their journey along the long, winding pathway of learning with the end of first semester rapidly approaching.

With resolutions of honor to consider, the National Junior Honor Society (NJHS) has plans to increase citizenship in the middle school, and the Lind and Ritzville communities.

The Lind-Ritzville NJHS will kick-off this year’s list of activities with an individual service project in the form of a pet food drive. The “Food for Furry Friends Drive” is being conducted to give community members a chance to support Adams County Pet Rescue (ACPR) by donating food to hungry local pets.

The Food for Furry Friends Drive began throughout the Lind and Ritzville communities on Sunday, Jan. 12, and will finish Jan. 26. Community members, students, and pet-parents are encouraged to donate good quality, bagged or canned, cat or dog food. There will be three donation boxes set up at Lind-Ritzville High School, Lind-Ritzville Middle School, and Sterling Bank where food can be deposited at any time. Bronco basketball fans can bring donations with them on Friday, Jan. 24, and Saturday, Jan. 25, where donation boxes will be set up in the gym.

ACPR is a philanthropic local organization that will strongly benefit from community support. The organization works to find foster homes for neglected animals, as well as collects food and funds to pay for veterinary bills.

Mikki Kison, an ACPR representative, stated “In 2013, we helped re-home 655 dogs.” ACPR is essential to the well-being of pets everywhere throughout Adams County.

ACPR has some exciting projects planned that are in need of community support in order to improve the lives of innumerable local animals in the near future. They are in phase two of three in constructing an ACPR headquarters building.

Kison said about their progress, “The well is in, there is electricity to the site, and the building is framed (but) $250,000 is needed to finish the existing building.”

ACPR’s next project is to use their seven acres of land that they currently own to create a community dog park.

“If the opportunity arises, we can move quickly on that,” Kison said.

Contributing to Lind-Ritzville Middle School National Junior Honor Society’s “Food for Furry Friends Drive” is only the tip of the iceberg of how community members can help local pets.

Kison said, “We need donations to keep moving forward.”

If you are interested in helping ACPR in their endeavors, donations can be sent to PO Box 311, Ritzville, WA 99169.