Many small ideas make the biggest difference.
Take the school project 11-year-old Janelle Cahoon was working on.
Together with a partner she created a board game that incorporated a love of animals. The pair decided the objective of the game would be to raise $2,000 for the Langley Animal Protection Society (LAPS).
There was a busy mom moment when Janelle’s mother, Cherie Cahoon, only heard part of what Janelle was explaining. She thought her daughter actually had to raise the funds.
“Then she told me, ‘no Mom, it’s in the game,’ but I said we could probably do that,” Cherie explained.
Mom had been thinking about ways to get more involved in supporting the community for a while , but hadn’t yet reached a decision.
The Cahoons have been part of Langley for close to 11 years and are definitely animal lovers with two American bulldogs (Tig and Quinn) and two cats.
“I know she loves animals,” Cherie said of her daughter. “She has a heart for animals.”
The pair brainstormed ideas then rested on something that was already part of their world. Cherie makes coats for Tig to keep the four-year-old dog warm in the winter weather.
“I just make them for Tig,” she said. “I had never sewn professionally or for humans or anything.”
But Janelle was excited.
“Yeah, we should do that,” was her reaction to the idea.
They had no idea how successful their plan might be, but they set a goal of raising $1,000 for the cat program at LAPS.
Suddenly, dog coats would be responsible for helping cats.
In the end, Janelle, her mom, and a friend created 85 dog jackets and raised a total of $1,600. Janelle worked as the project manager throughout the process making sure the right dog received the right coat.
Jayne Nelson, acting executive director with LAPS, noted the money will help support spay and neuter programs.
“Janelle’s mom, Cherie, contacted us to let us know what they were planning to do and to see if we would be willing to share it on our Facebook page,” Nelson said. “We, of course, thought it was an awesome idea, but would never have guessed that they would raise so much money.”
In fact, the response was so overwhelming, Cherie had to cap the number of jackets. They’re now doing just a few at a time with $10 from each jacket going to LAPS.
“The messages, they went crazy,” Cherie said, noting they are working their way through the waiting list.
For more information about the dog coats search The Sweater Project on Facebook.