After three months of collecting supplies for animals in need, Paw Plan officers dropped off donations in a community supply drive to animal shelters Austin Pets Alive and the Central Texas Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) on Friday, Dec. 22. Beginning in September, officers delivered donation bins to six local elementary schools to collect supplies from their wishlist.

“The bins were hand decorated by members,” Paw Plan President Phylicia Ren ‘25 said. “We made sure to decorate them [to be] eye-catching to elementary schoolers, and we made one bin per school.”

Ren purchased second-hand garbage bins off of Facebook Marketplace in August with nonprofit funds and organized a decorating event with Paw Plan members for a volunteer hour. On the sides of the bins, members glued cat and dog face decorations, wishlist items, and information about the nonprofit.

“We executed [the drive] by emailing all the elementary schools and communicating with the PTA,” Ren said. “[We also used] Nextdoor, social media, and the help of the counselors at all the schools; they were really supportive. [Donations] varied school to school, depending on how much the PTA helped us send emails and newsletters reminding people to donate, but [we weren’t] expecting so much generosity because we’ve tried this in previous years without success.”

Throughout early December, Ren picked up donation bins from the schools and, with the help of officers, counted donations. In total, donations amassed to almost $1000, and the nonprofit received 15 pounds of dry food, 6 pounds of treats, 132 ounces of wet food, and numerous other donations such as toys, blankets, bedding, pet clothes, litter, and cleaning supplies.

“I think people tend to overlook that shelters need a lot more than just food and toys,” Ren said. “[The shelter] needs to be a clean and safe space, so we were really happy to see [donations of] bleach, wipes, [and] paper towels. Usually, shelters get dog food from other stores for wholesale prices, so they don’t need those food items. Mostly, they were asking for cleaning supplies and medications.”

After counting inventory and organizing items, officers including Ren, Vice President of Communications Chloe Oakley ‘25, and Vice President of Operations Dawoon Jung ‘25, donated the supplies to Austin Pets Alive and Central Texas SPCA.

“We picked the shelters based [on] need,” Ren said. “We tried to choose shelters that were larger, [at] overcapacity, and needed more help. The SPCA is a smaller, private shelter, [so] we didn’t donate as much of the supplies there.”

To date, Paw Plan has raised over $6000 for local animal shelters through supplies and monetary donations since it was founded in 2020. As the officer team begins to set goals for the new year, they plan on expanding their reach and offering more volunteer opportunities for members.

“The mission of Paw Plan is so important, especially since [the shelters we work with] are completely no-kill, so they’re always operating at overcapacity,” Ren said. “It’s crucial to continue to support these shelters or else it’s very hard for them to survive and they may have to begin euthanizing these animals, which we don’t want.”

Next semester, Paw Plan will be volunteering with Safe in Austin Rescue Ranch on Jan. 13. For more information, contact the officer team at [email protected].