In the Fall Noah decided to run for student council. He was elected as a Representative of his grade, and we could not have been more proud of him. Anyone who knows Noah will agree that he LOVES animals, so his proposal to help homeless animals was no surprise. It was however, a huge surprise to ME the lengths he went to achieve this goal. Following is the story of Noah and the Pet Food Drive 2011.

Noah realized that "people always have events to help homeless people - but no one ever seems to help the homeless pets. We need to help them!" Noah's heart was set and he went to work to make it happen. As a student council member he knew he could suggest that his school, Davidson Day School, have just this sort of event. Noah is a bit shy when it comes to talking in front of groups of people. He made a commitment that this time he was going to put that behind him and not stand in his way to achieve his pet drive goal. He stood in front of the council and made a presentation that the school hold a drive to help homeless pets. Instead of canned goods, he suggested bringing in pet food, pet toys, and anything else the animal shelter needs. This was a HUGE step in Noah's personal development! The entire council approved of his idea.

Now it was time to really work.

The decision was made that the drive would begin sometime after the first of the year. When the time came - boy was Noah ready! Still a bit apprehensive of speaking in front of people - he knew the animals needed his help so he sucked it up and stood in front of the entire school to explain his plan. He worked with school officials to nail down the specifics of the pet food drive and talked with high school council reps to aid spreading the word.

The drive started...and nothing. The first Monday of the drive not a single item had been brought in. Again, anyone who knows Noah is aware that he can also be very emotional. Though we as parents had warned him that people had a few weeks to bring in items, so don't expect a bunch the first week - it still did NOT temper his disappointment. As the first week came to a close only a few items had been collected. Then the school newsletter the Round-a-Bout came out - and his Pet Food Drive was mentioned. That was all it took. The next few weeks items came in on a pretty regular pace. The local newspapers even mentioned his Pet Drive, which was very exciting for him! Noah stopped by the drop-off point to organize the items every day to make sure it didn't make the hallway look bad. He also counted the items...every single day. A couple of his football coaches even donated money so he could go and get items that weren't being brought in - like cleaning supplies, and kitty litter. All and all - the drive was a HUGE success! Noah has already starting talking of making it an annual event.

On Saturday, February 26th Noah and I loaded up the Jeep and took everything he had collected to the Cornelius Animal Shelter. As fate would have it, another Davidson Day family was at the shelter adopting a pet! Their son helped Noah carry all the supplies into the shelter. Animal Control Officer Trey Nodine, was very impressed with the amount of items that were collected, and thanked the ENTIRE Davidson Day family for their contributions. He said the donated items will go a very long way in helping the shelter. He shook Noah's hand for organizing such a great program and then kindly shook it again so I could take a picture.

Below is the final tally of items collected during the drive:

170 pounds of dry dog food

A few cans of dog food

70+ pounds of dry cat food

20 cans of cat food

14 bags of dog treats

34 pet toys

40 lbs of cat litter

$20 gift card to PETCO