Livingston Girl Scout Helps Shelter Animals With Toy Donations

LIVINGSTON, NJ — The following news release comes courtesy of the Girl Scouts Heart of New Jersey. Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site.

Animals in shelters are undeniably more stressed than the average house pet. And, unfortunately, those that have been mistreated have a difficult time trusting humans. So, how can we help? One way: toys.

When Livingston resident and Gold Award Girl Scout Carolina L. discovered that even the simplest of toys can help shelter animals de-stress, she decided to work with her local elementary school to make as many pet toys as possible.

Toys provide the mental stimulation and comfort that shelter animals need to relax in their environment, she explained.

For her Gold Award Take Action Project, Carolina researched potential solutions and created a plan to raise awareness of the necessities of animal shelters, improve the quality of life for the animals there, increase adoption rates, and promote community service among school-aged children.

“I was inspired by the hard work that animal shelter workers and volunteers do by helping previously-domesticated animals adapt to life without their owners,” Carolina said, adding that she obviously is an animal lover.

Carolina created and delivered a lesson plan to teach local elementary school students and other youth groups in her community how to create sparkly pompom cat toys and braided fetch toys for dogs; they donated all of the toys they made to Livingston Animal Shelter and Mt. Pleasant Animal Shelter. The 17-year-old then educated the Livingston community, helping to increase the support network for the local animal shelters. She also created instructional sheets for the Mt. Pleasant Animal Shelter on how to make these toys so that others can create them for cats and dogs. The instructions were given to some Livingston teachers for future class activities, and are available on the website she built to sustain her project.

For Carolina, one of her main goals is getting the next generation of volunteers ready to go.

“Through research, I learned that early involvement in volunteer service makes young people more likely to keep helping the community as adults,” she said. “By letting children have fun in creating toys now, they are likely to become involved in their community in bigger ways as adults.”

Carolina has been a part of Girl Scouts Heart of New Jersey (GSHNJ) Troop 32030 for the past 12 years. She said it’s a special place where girls are constantly learning new strengths, lessons, and skills.

“There is always more to learn when you’re a Girl Scout, and the experiences are certainly one of a kind,” she added.

The Gold Award is the pinnacle of the Girl Scout Leadership Experience and the most prestigious award a Girl Scout can earn. It recognizes girls who develop sustainable solutions for problems facing our world.

“Carolina’s Gold Award project is exciting because it not only helps the shelter animals, but it educates younger students on the rewarding benefits of helping your community,” said GSHNJ CEO Natasha Hemmings. “Carolina has taken the skills she’s learned by being a Girl Scout and perfectly applied them to make the world a little brighter.”

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