The students of the Mildred L. Day School collected items on behalf of the Animal Welfare Society and the Community Outreach Services Food Bank. In total the students collected 2,008 items for pets and people!

This is Isabelle, she stopped by to donate money from a lemonade stand she hosted in memory of her dog Edgar. Edgar was adopted from AWS and passed away recently. She made the lemonade from scratch and had a squealing good time playing with Hamlet!

Jack stopped by to donate his proceeds of his families lemonade stand. He enjoyed spending some time with the kittens while he was here.

Our amazing friend Kiera asked for gifts to help the animals instead of gifts for her 8th birthday! Look at that! Our dogs will have fun playing with all those toys for sure! Thank you Kiera!

One of the rites of passage of many local eighth-graders is to do a Community Service Project. Lots of eighth graders have pets, some don’t, but many want to help the animals in any way they can. These three warm-hearted winners are Ashton Wilson, Connor McGarry, and Griffin Johnson from the Middle School of the Kennebunks. They decided to donate some of their time after school recently to help get the new AWS lobby and Obedience and Humane Education rooms spiffy for the Holiday Season. They meticulously decorated the tree pictured behind them and helped put away donations, moving heavy boxes from one building to another, having a great attitude all the while! See you again soon, gentlemen, and thanks again!

This here fella is Dominic , a big fan of WWE wrestling and you guessed it, ANIMALS. Dominic loves all animals so much, for his 8th birthday in October, he invited his whole class to his birthday and said, “NO GIFTS! No, wait. NO GIFTS FOR ME! Give gifts instead to the animals at the Animal Welfare Society!” And it was so.

He came for an all expenses paid, state of the art, no holds barred, VIP, backstage pass Hero Tour with Humane Educator and over caffeinated optimist, Megan E. Cross and met baby rats, bunnies, kittens, cats and dogs, and finished his tour off with current AWS Heartthrob: BARNACLE. Dominic is one cool customer. No, seriously, he is super calm and sweet around the animals as well as being a way cool altruist.

Thanks, Dominic! You sure pinned down what it means to be a community hero!

Our thanks to Martha Jane and Myles who, along with their friend Emmy, operated a lemonade stand during the late summer with all proceeds going to AWS. They sold cookies too, providing a sweet treat to go with a sweet drink. Not only did they provide us with a sizable donation, but they had a blast doing it too! Thanks kids!

This young lady stopped by to drop off money she raised from growing and selling blueberries! Rose is from Sacramento, CA but spends her summers here in Maine. She was so full of energy and excited to visit with the animals. Thanks Rose!

Norah stopped by to drop of a donation of $63 her Girl Scout Troop raised by hosting a Mother’s Day Tea at the Nonantum Resort! Thanks to Norah and all her fellow troops for their hard work and dedication to our cause!

We had an amazing donation from Brianna and Emilie! The two young ladies worked together on a school project with the goal of contributing to AWS. They set up tables with flyers and information all about AWS at Cummings Market and Ace Hardware for two weekends! The ladies collected over $830 along with toys, food and water bowls, blankets, leashes and collars! They were so wonderful to meet and you could just tell how thrilled they were to have been so successful in their effort! They even scooted out of softball practice early to bring everything by. We are grateful for their donations and hard work!

Daisy Troop 99 came by for a visit and to deliver donations they were able to buy with the money they raised selling cookies! The young change makers were able to bring us kongs, treats, cat nip, peanut butter, hand towels, and food for rabbits, dogs, and cats! Thanks kids!

We recently had a visit from the Girl Scouts Troop 1573! The young ladies set up a donation drive in their school and collected food, treats, toys, beds, and blankets for the animals. They also filled a basket with felt toys they made themselves. Some were fleece rope toys for dogs, others were cat nip stuffed for the cats. Thanks for all your hard work girls!

Put your paws together to applaud Olivia, Bryleigh, and Kristen from York Middle School. They chose AWS for their Kindness Project. They got approval from their principal to go on the announcements at school to let people know about their donation drive and AWS. The York Middle School Community was very generous. Thank you all so much!

Meet Awesome Isaak. He recently had a birthday and asked his friends to bring gifts for the animals in lieu of gifts for himself. The treats he brought to AWS were especially popular with our cats and dogs. Isaak’s love for animals is readily apparent and we think maybe he’ll have a career in animal welfare someday (if the NHL doesn’t work out, of course!) Thanks, Isaak, for your generosity and kindness to our animals! Smokey, Derusha, Snowbell and all our pets had a great time meeting you! Thank you for visiting the wonderful world of AWS!