Puppy Palooza
By: Naima Jagdish
On June 18, 2022 my Girl Scout Troop 40782 of Scotch Plains-Fanwood hosted an event. This event was an activity for our Bronze in Girls Scout, the highest award that Junior Girl Scouts can earn. We have worked on this award since October, 2021. This event has taken a lot of work and effort. The event was very successful and we were very happy that all of our work had paid off.
This event was called “Puppy Palooza”. We invited many of our Scotch Plains and Fanwood neighbors and their furry little pets to come to our event which included a dog obstacle course, photo booth and the sale of our homemade items. This event was to support our local shelter, the Plainfield Area Humane Society. We collected many donations in the form of money and items such as laundry detergent, paper towels, bleach and so much more. We made toys, accessories, and treats to sell at our event. All the money was donated to the shelter.
The purpose of this event was not only to collect donations for the shelter, but it was also to inform pet owners about how to properly take care of their dogs. We made brochures that we passed out in the event. We had a meeting with some of the people at the shelter. All the information that they told us like, how important it is to microchip your dog and how the shelters can provide food for pets if you can’t afford what your pet needs. We put this information about how to properly take care of your pet in a brochure.
We had many impacts and improvements on and in the community because of this event. Some impacts we had on the community was our event itself. The event provided exercise for the pets and was fun and entertaining for the pets. The obstacle course and just interacting with other dogs was a lot of fun for the dogs. The dogs would get rewarded with homemade treats after completing an obstacle. We decided to do an obstacle course because the vet at the shelter talked to us about how many pet owners did not give their pets enough exercise and interaction with other pets. Another impact we had on the community was, we informed people about caring for pets and the shelter services. The final Impact we had on the community was we brought our community together. We saw very generous donations from our community, we raised $346 for the shelter and 6 boxes of supplies for the shelter which really helped the animals. All this money will be used for making improvements to the shelter.
This event has taught me and my troop so much. I learned about how to properly take care of a dog properly. I also learned about all the important work the shelters do. I learned about how they take care of the shelter pets and all of the things that they provide for pet owners. I learned about what they need and what the shelter provides. I also learned how to make homemade dog treats, toys and accessories for dogs and cats. The final thing I learned was organize and run an event, including all of the time and attention to details.
Planning the event took many hours of work, carefully creating the flyers, brochures, treats and activities. All the troop girls and our troop leaders worked together to make this a memorable event and helped us to earn our Bronze Award!
