OTHELLO — Adams County Pet Rescue board member and Othello resident Kim Bailey do what they can to help the ACPR, and one of the ways they do this is by volunteering to go to schools in Othello and teach students about the compassionate care of animals.

“With the younger children, our main focus is the proper care of animals; what they should eat, what they shouldn't eat, what you need to do to keep your pet healthy, take them to the vet, get their vaccinations, play with them, little tips for getting them potty trained,” Foley said. “With the older kids, who will in a few years' time be pet owners themselves, we talk about that but we also talk about the responsibilities that come with being a pet owner, which means spaying and neutering and vaccines, and we know spaying and neutering is a touchy topic. However, it's out of control in Othello. We've taken in 1200 animals this year. That's insane.”

Foley spoke about the children’s response to their classes at the schools. Both Foley and Bailey are retired teachers who worked at Scootney Springs Elementary in Othello. 

“The kids always want to tell us about their animals. They want to tell us about any time they were sick or hurt,” Foley said. “They want to tell us if they did something kind for an animal, if they rescued one or helped one, and they want to tell us that their dog had puppies.”

Foley said there is more to the classroom visits than just spreading awareness.

“We are very sensitive to the fact … that an 8-year-old has no control over whether their parents vaccinate their dogs or get them spayed or neutered. So we don't want them to feel bad that their dog had puppies,” Foley said. “We want them to be happy because puppies are cute, but we want them to understand that then we need to find homes for those puppies and if their parents wanted them to have puppies, that a good alternative is that they could foster a puppy through Pet Rescue. So we talk a lot about our fostering program. They could foster a pregnant momma dog, they could foster puppies, they could foster an older dog, they could foster kitties. So if their parents say, ‘We can't have a pet because it's too expensive then we tell them you could foster one for Pet Rescue and we’ll give you bedding, food, a kennel, everything.”

Foley said Kim and her would like to start going to junior highs and high schools.

“We know that those kids are soon to be pet owners,” Foley said. “We sent out invitations to all the schools, but Scootney Springs has fully embraced us, and we've done all the classrooms at Scootney, grades two through six, and then we've just started going to Hiawatha (Elementary School).”

Scootney Springs Counselor Jill Powell and three of the school’s sixth-grade leadership students — Manuel Gallegos, Abigail Prows and Kinsley Roylance — talked about some of the partnerships Scootney Springs has implemented with Foley and Bailey. Powell said the three students all had Foley and Bailey as teachers when they taught at Scootney Springs.

Gallegos talked about Foley and Bailey’s involvement with the school.

“They bring the dog Honeybunches,” he said, “and they were telling us how about all the things that we could do to help out, and that they've been really short on food, and that they didn’t have enough money for the dogs.”

The three students all said they wanted to help support ACPR, and that they enjoyed Foley and Bailey’s visits to the school.

“Well, what we did was we each went around with a chart,” Roylance said, “and we went to each classroom and asked if they had any dog food that they would raise, and whoever raised the most cat and dog food, they got a popcorn party.”

Powell said the food drive and other events were part of Kindness Week in October, and part of the students’ leadership class. 

“We just help our school with things that we need done,” Roylance said. “It was during Kindness Week and so that was our activity for kindness, being kind to the dogs.”

Roylance explained why she liked helping ACPR. 

“It was nice being able to help all the cats and dogs because … I know there are cats and dogs that are dying and people aren't treating them well,” she said. 

Gallegos also commented on helping out.

“And they also had about no food, (ACPR was) saying, and then they didn't have enough money to get more food, and when we did the fundraiser they got a lot of more food,” Gallegos said.

Powell said the fundraiser likely raised close to 600 pounds of food. She elaborated on some of the benefits of having Foley and Bailey involved with the school.

“Just seeing them and having their presence in our building, even though they've retired, has been a huge benefit to the kids. Their efforts and just the knowledge and background that they come with to come in and teach our kids a little bit more about how to be kind to animals, is pretty inspiring,” Powell said. “The kids really love it…Honeybunches, that therapeutical dog (Foley) has go with her places, the kids have quite an attachment to her and love seeing Honeybunches and giving Honeybunches hugs and treats, so it's cool. It's really good that they're so involved still in the school.”

Gabriel Davis may be reached at gdavis@columbiabasinherald.com. 

    A photo of the dog and cat food collected for Adams County Pet Rescue during Scootney Springs Elementary’s October food drive during the school’s Kindness Week.
  

    Adams County Pet Rescue board member Tammy Foley, left, and Othello resident Kim Bailey, middle, attend an Adams County Commissioner’s meeting to advocate for additional funding for ACPR. Foley and Bailey continue to hold classes on animal care in schools in Othello.
  

    Adams County Pet Rescue board member Tammy Foley speaks at an Othello City Council meeting to request additional funding from the city of Othello for ACPR.