10-year-old raises money, supplies for Humane Society

For a second year, 10-year-old Hadleigh Allen chose to celebrate her birthday by supporting the thing she cares about most, the animals of Young County.

Allen, who turned 10 on Sept. 8, invited family, friends and the public to donate to the Humane Society of Young County for her birthday. She hosted the party Saturday, Sept. 7 at the shelter from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and was able to make a difference for the animals currently housed at the shelter.

“I love the animals and I don’t want them to feel harmed in any way and be sad, depressed, so I like them to be happy and be loved,” she said.

Allen said she did not know how she came up with the idea for the event, but said she just wanted to save the animals. She said the response from the public during the event was positive and supportive towards her efforts.

“They were happy and they were proud of me, what I was doing and they asked me questions about why I would do this and I would say ‘Because I love the animals and I want them loved and happy,’” she said.

Allen said she and her friends were able to take the animals out and play with them during the event last Saturday. She said they let more dogs out of their cages this year than they did in the previous year.

“There is one named Cherry and she looked super depressed in her cage, so we let her out and she’s crazy,” she said. “It is better having them out then in a cage stuck.”

She said the shelter staff are proud of her for hosting the event for two years and are pushing her to keep the event. For Allen, the best thing about the event is making the animals happy.

For the rest of the story, see the Wednesday, Sept. 18 edition of The Graham Leader.