PORT CLINTON -- Students at Immaculate Conception School raised nearly $1,000 recently during the Pennies for Pets fundraiser to help fund the Humane Society of Ottawa County, with the fifth-grade class winning a pizza party and a visit by Humane Society shelter staff and residents Tuesday.
But the big winners, according to Lisa Ramirez, president of the Humane Society, were the many animals awaiting adoption at the Sand Road shelter.
"We really appreciate this," Ramirez told the fifth-graders who spent an hour outside the school Tuesday morning with dogs Manny, Romeo and Toby and several feline friends.
"We're very busy and understaffed," she told the students.
While the three dogs romped and rolled throughout the students, basking in the attention, Humane Society Project Manager Bruce Theobald spoke about the shelter's operations.
"We rescue all kinds of domestic animals," he said, "though mostly dogs and cats."
Students were excited to learn there were a few exceptions, like the pot-bellied pig a family left in a closet when they moved, and a boa constrictor.
"Strays, runaways and abandoned pets," Theobald told students. "We feed them, take them to the vet, care for them and try to love 'em the best we can."
The fifth-graders asked questions about where the animals come from, how they are cared for and how they could help the shelter.
Fifth-graders Evelyn Gillman and Steven Kast said the fundraiser went well.
"We had a big jar filled with pennies, dimes and quarters," said Kast. "We also had dollars."
Gillman said the money from students just kept coming in.
"Everybody kept bringing more and more and more," said Gillman.
"We raised over $200," she said.
Humane Officer Nancy Silva spoke to students about caring for cats and dogs.
"We don't want our dogs to be left on the end of a chain on a dog house," she said.
Silva said the shelter currently has almost 200 cats and about 16 dogs, and she invited students to come to the shelter with their parents to pick out a new family pet or volunteer.
"We need all the help we can get," Ramirez said.
