Brownie Troop Goes to the Dogs

Brownie Troupe #838, which is comprised of 2nd grade girls from Carlthorp School in Santa Monica decided they wanted to do something with the money they raised from selling girl scout cookies. Last year was their first year together as a troop and, after selling many boxes of cookies, the girls had earned a nice amount of money. The girls wanted to do something charitable with the money so the troop leaders presented them with several options for donating:  helping abandoned animals, helping to clean up the environment, helping people without a home, helping children who do not have all that they need, helping older people. They unanimously voted to help animals.  Their troop leader, Eve, then did a fair amount of research into the organizations dedicated to helping animals and found the Bill Foundation and the Animal Medical Center.

Julia, a volunteer with Bill Foundation, came with her foster, Hildie, and told the girls what it was like to be a foster parent.   All the Brownies got to pet Hildie, who loved the attention and rolled over on her back, wagging her tail. Jo told the girls about the founding of Bill Foundation and why it was named after their beloved dog, Bill.  "Back in 1998", she told them, "Bill was very sick and no matter how hard we tried, we couldn't save his life.  But my husband, Peter, and I thought even though we couldn't help Bill, we could save other dogs." 

Jo also impressed on the girls how important it is for your dog to wear ID all the time, even if the dog is microchipped. She also asked them, "If your family is thinking about adopting a dog,  consider adopting an adult dog like Hildie.  She could be an easy fit into your family: already house-trained, quiet and well behaved, and a dog who doesn't require a tremendous amount of exercise."

The girls also took a tour of Animal Medical Center, Dr. Alan Schulman's practice. Joy, a vet tech at AMC, led the tour. They visited the cat room, the small dog boarding room, big dog boarding, and were able to watch a surgery in progress.

The girls were moved by the veterinarians' desire to care for abandoned animals for little or no compensation and by the history of the Bill Foundation as dedicated to Jo and Peter's deceased pet, Bill.  They had a wonderful time visiting the pet hospital, seeing the animals in different phases of treatment, learning about care of animals, and even watching a surgery.  The pets that Jo and her husband (sorry, I forgot his name) brought were wonderful and the girls were able to see and touch the pets that their donation would be directly helping. It allowed them to see exactly how their hard earned money would be spent, making it all very real to them.

Thank you again Brownie Troop #838 for caring.