Since their creation as of April of the 2022-2023 school year, McLean’s Animal Amity Club has done much to promote the aid of animals in need of homes or shelter. Over the course of this school year, the club’s involvement has skyrocketed and their projects have benefited many local animal shelters.

“The club is important because there are a lot of animals in shelters that will be in there for a long time, if not their whole lives, and they deserve care,” junior club officer Landon Moore said.

The Animal Amity Club seeks to spread awareness of the issues prevalent within the pet breeding industry while also helping to prevent further ramifications of the industry’s harm on the pets placed into shelters.

“A lot of animals need our help because most people buy [their pets] from breeding facilities which foster extreme cruelty and awful conditions,” junior club president Reagan Cooley said. “Each year about 10 to 11 million cats and dogs are euthanized due to overcrowding in America. There’s not enough homes for the cats and dogs born each year but [the club] works to weaken pet overpopulation, breeding, and cruelty cycles.”

The club has carried out many productive projects to proactively help local shelters despite their inability for members to conduct hands-on work with such shelters as minors.

“[Since founding the club], we’ve done supply drives, made dog toys and made blankets for the dogs,” Cooley said. “We have [also] spread awareness about the dogs and done social media pushes to spread awareness around the school [about] why dogs and cats need homes and the problems they’re facing.”

Such donations raised by the club are given to the Lost Dog and Cat Rescue Foundation located in Falls Church, which the club has been in collaboration with since its initiation. The club as a whole functions entirely on volunteer contributions. Donations are made by club members who can gain service hours from their work.

“There’s no membership requirements [for new or returning members], people just come to meetings and we try to have one [meeting] once or twice a month,” Cooley said.

Apart from their plan to continue making dog toys and blankets to donate to local pet shelters, as the school year continues, the club hopes to achieve a total fundraising goal of $10,000. They plan to host a bake sale in the next month to contribute to this fundraising goal.

“We’re going to have a fundraiser at PetSmart and possibly Giant. We’re going to do a bake sale and we’re hoping to sell about $500 to $1,000,” junior club vice president Owen Thiebert said.

Members will volunteer to bake goods and sell them to the public, allowing them to gain service hours from the project. Club involvement and interest in the cause fuels the club’s success in such fundraisers and activities. The success of the club’s past projects has only catalyzed creativity within the club and its growth.

“We hope to continue our objectives as a club [which are] to spread awareness and save pets from abuse, homelessness, and euthanasia, to help find dogs and cats healthy and happy homes and to support local shelters,” Cooley said.