On Tuesday Chloe made a very substantial donation to the Humane Society of Central Oregon. She had been planning this for months and had done several things to make the money. She made several different kinds of crafts which she sold to members of our homeschool group and at the two homeschool conferences we went to this year. She also took quite a bit of her baby sitting money to get to an even $200!
When we walked into the humane society and mentioned she wanted to volunteer they gave us the usual spiel about how you have to be 16 to volunteer on your own, but if you are younger you can be there with a parent or other adult. Then we mentioned the donation and they about fell out of their seats. She was an immediate celebrity and got her picture taken for their newsletter. They also said that maybe she won't need supervision (my thoughts exactly!). I think they were genuinely amazed that a 13 year old would do such a thing, but then we explained that she homeschools (we didn't mention the unschool part) and I guess it all made sense after that.
Here she is with Mimi, a bunny who is awaiting adoption.
Afterwards we took a little tour of the facility to see the dogs and cats. The dog end is a little bit depressing, but not because the facility is bad. It's actually only a year or two old and is immaculately clean. I guess it's because the dogs are in kennels. The cat end is cheerier and there is a kitten room that is positively homey! We had so much fun playing with the kittens. Mark is allergic to cats (and Chloe may be as well), so we've never had cats at home. I grew up with lots of cats and kind of miss them, though our Shih Tzu is very easy going and sometimes he's almost like a cat.
It looks like this will be our regular Thursday outing for a while. Chloe is excited to take the dogs for walks and play with them in the outside yard.