Every Dog Has Its Day

...and for the pets of 250 Arlington area Meals on Wheels customers, that day was Saturday, May 22. With the help of Girl Scout troop #3502, Meals on Wheels and the Arlington Animal Services Shelter collected over 6,000 pounds of dog and cat food.

The Girl Scouts, under the leadership of troop leader Sandy Worth, chose the Giving Back Twice event as their SLANT 45 project, and set about collecting donations at Kroger grocery stores and Arlington Fire Stations. On the day of the event, the girls made colorful posters to display, helped meet and greet customers at the shelter and handed out donation fliers in the Tails n' Trails dog park at the facility.

Chris Huff, Community Services Educator for the city of Arlington and coordinator of the event, was extremely pleased with the hard work of the Girl Scouts. The original goal for the pet food drive was 1500 pounds, but the girls were so efficient and excited about the project that she revised it - twice - and they still exceeded the new 5,000 pound goal! Said Chris, "The success of this event shows how much kids can do and how much they're willing to do; they just need an opportunity."

The girls each worked 2-hour shifts at the shelter, pausing only to grab a drink or play with a puppy in the dog park. Girl Scout Peyton had this to say about the experience: “When you give back to the community at least once, you keep wanting to do it over and over again because of the really good feeling and fun that you’re having.” Friend Lauren agreed, saying, “Yeah, and it inspires other people to start taking action, too.”