By Julie Johnston
IV Leader staff
Each year, the IVCC Support Staff votes on a service
project for the upcoming year and this year was to raise funds and donations for
local animal shelters.
According to the IVCC Service Project Proposal, the support
staff came up with the idea in part because of a story of a young, mixed breed
dog named Gracie, who was thrown from a four-story roof top. Despite the
severity of the fall, Gracie suffered only a broken leg and bruising to her
chest.
The dog’s owner was later arrested and an animal shelter
helped Gracie find a new home. Stories like Gracie’s have inspired the IVCC
Support Staff to raise awareness in the public about the benefit of having local
animal shelters. Many local animal shelters have limited staff who are mostly on
a volunteer basis. Animal shelters in the area are often over crowded and in
constant need of food and supplies, the proposal explained.
The service project team is striving to promote awareness for
the shelters by increasing fundraising efforts and volunteerism among members of
the Illinois Valley community.
The local shelters that the Support Staff Service Project
team members are helping include Pet Project in Grand Ridge, Sauk Valley Humane
Society in Mendota, Friends of Strays in Princeton and Illinois Valley Animal
Rescue in Peru. So far this year, the IVCC service project team has made great
headway in meeting their goals.
A member of the service project team recently contacted
PetSmart, an animal supplies distribution center located in Ottawa, requesting
any donations that may help the cause. PetSmart was very responsive and donated
two truckloads with approximately 2,000 pounds of donated items. The donation
included cat litter, food, toys, bedding, treats, collars along with numerous
other supplies.
This donation has been the largest single donation received
by the support staff service project team this year.
According to the proposal, many other fundraising activities
are planned for the year to help with the project. They include Penny Wars, a
strategic support staff competition, the annual IVCC Holiday Art & Craft Fair,
food and supply drives, silent auctions, raffles, sponsorships, community
partners, volunteers and grant writing.
This year’’s IVCC support staff service project team
includes: Raeleen Bartolt, JoAnn Corrigan, Theresa Carranco, Lorri Foockle, Mark
Grzybowski, Judy Kurtz, Crystal Loughran, Jeanette Mathis, Marydale Stewart,
Karen Talsky and Mary Tully. If any individual would like to offer a
contribution or donate their time to this years IVCC Support Staff Service
Project, they can contact a service project team member or one of the local
animal shelters.