Sarah McQuaid stands in the front of a classroom brimming with students. She walks silently to the light switch and clicks them off, quieting the students. Heading back to her spot next to the screen, she takes a breath and greets the students who have arrived at the second ever meeting of Paws Crossed. For the remaining half hour of the meeting, she flips through a powerpoint about the club and answers questions from her audience.
“I was so surprised when twenty plus people showed up to the first one,” McQuaid said. “It just felt awesome when there was 27 people [at the second one].”
Paws Crossed is Legacy’s first-ever pet rescue club. It was started with the combined efforts of three girls, Sophomores Sarah McQuaid and Janell Fitzgerald and Junior Destiny Hurd. Fitzgerald, however was the first one to have the idea for an animal rescue club. She came up with the idea while hanging a poster about the pet food drive.
“One of the coaches asked me while I was hanging up one of the donation posters if that was a club and I said no,” Fitzgerald said. “But then I was like “hey, we should do that” and I told [Ms. Anderson] and we all loved it.”
History teacher Shelene Anderson is the sponsor for Paws Crossed and a volunteer with Almost Home Animal Rescue. She worked together with the girls to get the club started. She has been supportive of a pet rescue club since Fitzgerald first mentioned it to her.
“Animal rescue is what I do. A lot of the time that I’m not working at school, I’m working with animals,” Anderson said. “So when they brought up the idea of starting a club, I thought it would link my two worlds.”
The girls who started Paws Crossed have specific goals in mind for the club. They want the club and it’s members to be able to bring awareness to, and try to alleviate, the pain that animals in shelters go through.
“It sucks that they’re living in a shelter,” Hurd said. “[I want] to really help the animals in shelters and make them feel loved even when they’re searching for a home.”
Overall, the girls who started the club along with Anderson are passionate about what they’re doing, and would like the club members to feel the same way. They truly believe in the importance of Paws Crossed.
“Treating animals well is a reflection of our humanity,” Anderson said. “Many animals are in a situation they have no control over. To help them get into a better situation is something that is important to me. I’m all about the underdog.”
