By, Pam Teel
Alyssa Guttridge and her classmate Brielle Goglia of Millstone Township held a fundraiser for a Senior Dog Shelter in Upper Freehold recently. Alyssa and Brielle are part of the Gifted and Talented Program at Millstone Elementary School. In their class, they were asked to come up with a community service project. The girls thought of fundraising for dogs. They looked into local dog shelters and decided Marty’s Place was special be- cause they took care of senior dogs. The girls and their teacher, Mrs. Recco, contacted Marty’s Place asking them what supplies they needed. They designed and distributed flyers asking for donations for things that the shelter needed. They also created a handout telling about Marty’s Place. The list of things asked for were toys, small dog bones, training pads, Hills dry and wet food, beds, and blankets. Within a week or two the large donation box in the school was full. The girls raised quite a lot of donations from friends, family, and their community. With the help of their teacher, family and friends, they worked effortlessly to get the word out about the fundraiser. It was an exciting night when they collected everything they needed and personally delivered it to Marty’s Place for the senior dogs.
The girls made announcements in school reminding everyone of the fundraiser. They also used social media to advertise the hard work they were doing. With every donation, the school put the person or families name on a paw print and hung it up in the school. When the fundraiser ended, they collected 2 carloads of supplies for Marty’s place. Marty’s Place was truly grateful for the donations. Alyssa and Brielle were very happy that they also got to play with some of the senior dogs.
They learned that Marty’s place has a youth program for kids fourteen years old and older. If a child wishes to volunteer, they go through a short training and sign up for volunteer hours to help take care of the dogs.
Marty’s Place Senior Dog Sanctuary, Inc. is a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing the lives of senior dogs and ensuring that older dogs whose owners can no longer care for them will have a loving home for life. The Sanctuary provides a safe, loving and protected environment for senior dogs that do not have homes. Their residents are older – age 7 or beyond – and receive the physical and emotional comfort, companionship and enrichment they need to thrive in their golden years. At Marty’s Place, the senior dogs find a home for life. The facility is located at 118 Route 526, in Upper Freehold Township. Visit them on Facebook, or for more info on how to volunteer your time, to donate, for programs and fundraiser events going on go to: http://martysplace.org. (609) 259-1278