Spreading warmth
BMS students host donation drive for Porterville Animal Shelter
The time of giving is upon us and to celebrate the holiday season, the Lighthouse Team from Burton Middle School (BMS) organized and hosted a donation drive for the Porterville Animal Shelter on Saturday afternoon, where they collected many supplies to give to the shelter to help bring holiday joy to the animals there.
The Lighthouse Team, which is part of Burton Middle School’s Leadership in Me program, is composed entirely of 8th grade students. The students took on the full responsibility of organizing the drive from beginning to end.
Sophia Serna, the Community Service Project Director for this year’s Lighthouse Team, is in charge of organizing two community service projects throughout the school year. Saturday’s donation drive was her first.
“This is our first one,” said Serna. “I think our next one will be sometime before school ends, but for this one, basically we planned out the event and got in contact with the animal shelters and just tried to make it happen following COVID restrictions.
“Originally, I wanted to do a cleanup at Murry Park, but I couldn’t do that because of the restrictions. So I asked everybody what else they would like to do. Some said a canned food drive, and some said donating somewhere. We talked about it and decided we would donate to some kind of shelter. I picked a bunch of shelters from here and as far as Visalia, and I put them out
there. There was the Porterville Animal Shelter and a couple of shelters for humans, but the majority vote was for the animal shelter. Then we picked a date and which students would come help, and that’s how this all happened.”
On Saturday, the community of Porterville delivered. Donations of puppy pads, dog and cat food, toys, blankets, pet beds, nearly anything the shelter could utilize, lined the fronts of fold out tables in the school’s parking lot.
“We got a lot of stuff,” said Serna. “I wasn’t really expecting this much, like this is a lot, so the community has been very generous.”
Lighthouse Team Advisor Charice Brichta
said that the students were happy to select the animal shelter because it’s a good and special cause, and that the students wanted to advocate for the animals who don’t have a voice.
“We really wanted to advocate for the animals that don’t have a voice and can’t speak up for themselves,” said Brichta. “They really depend on us, so we were glad that we could help them. I know Porterville Animal Shelter was really grateful. [The students] had an opportunity to pick any community service that they wanted, and these students selected that animal shelter because it’s really
special and such a good cause.”
Serna said that her goals were exceeded, and that she was happy to be able to give warmth to animals in need during this holiday season.
“I’m really grateful for this position that I’ve been given and I felt like I really wanted to do something,” said Serna. “When you see all these dogs and cats on the streets, they don’t have anyone to comfort them. They’re alone, you know? I wanted to be able to give them things to comfort them, especially now in the holiday season. I feel like that was pretty much my entire goal.”