When it comes to rescuing animals in need, every little bit counts. There’s no better example of that than the most recent donation to the Lake Cowichan Animals Rescue Society (LCARS), which received a surprising gift last week from some very young animal lovers.
Six-year-old Zelda Liboiron, her three-year-old brother, Edward, and their friend Mady Hogei came up with a creative fundraising idea for the local animal rescue society.
“I just wanted to make money for cute little kittens and puppies and dogs and cats,” explained Zelda. “We sold little mini tattoos. We made a little bit of money and we gave it to Mick and Barb [of LCARS].”
The stick-on tattoos were hand-drawn by the children using water soluble ink. Their sales garnered two dollars, which was then hand-delivered.
Zelda and Edward have four cats, one of which was adopted from LCARS. Kittens are Zelda’s favourite, and she said she doesn’t know where the idea came from to help out the rescue group.
“Just because I really wanted to do it. It was my life’s dream,” she said.
Mick Bedard, LCARS director, said he was blown away by the kids’ gesture.
“I think it’s fantastic. It’s not the amount, it’s the thought behind it,” he said. “Especially [for Zelda] to have the insight to just think about it herself, that means she’s definitely going down the right path as far as being a kid and getting her priorities straight.”
He said it seems to him that the kids are animal rescue volunteers in the making.
Summer is a busy time for the organization— it’s kitten season—and the cages in Bedard’s home are currently filled with a dozen tiny kittens to be adopted out.
“What we always need is of course monetary donations, but also cat food. Kitten food, cat food, canned, kibble-mostly cat because that what we deal with [most],” he said. “When we get 12 or 15 kittens, they go through a lot of stuff. So it’s a bit of a drain.”
Bedard said the organization is welcoming new members all the time but they can always use more volunteers, especially to help with fostering cats until they find permanent homes.
He also said LCARS is still in search of a donated space where they can store garage sale items. The society used to host a highly popular weekly garage sale fundraiser, but when they could no longer use their previous storage space, the activity had to be discontinued.
“It’s really hard to find a place—you almost need a place where the owners are animal lovers to the extreme and they would love to do whatever they can if they have a building they’d like to let us use,” he said.
This fall LCARS is hosting a barbecue at Lower Centennial Hall to thank its volunteers and to celebrate the organization’s tenth anniversary.
The event is Oct. 15.
