Just Paws

We are a STEAM TEAM representing the C3 Educational CO-OP of State College PA.

Animals have provided companionship for many a family.  Sometimes, pets are abandoned or unable to be cared for. Many shelters euthanize the animals that are not adopted.  We felt these also need to enjoy kindness and care and a further chance for adoption.

Our Force for Health STEAM TEAM I.D.E.A.S. plan was to raise money for a no kill shelter. Here is a brief summary of how we did this.

I. Identify:  We wanted to make sure we were not doing something that was not in line with a sustainable Earth, so we researched the United Nations Sustainability Goals and found the habitat for animals, both domestic and wild was important.  Our research with the Centre County Community Health Needs Assessment, showed that mental health issues and loneliness were major factors in our community.  Pet support until adoption was our plan to make a small step to help.

D. Design: We contacted the director of Just Paws, our local no kill shelter, and learned that they could use tools, and dollars to help their efforts.  We talked to a bunch of people and figured out how to make containers to collect money, boxes to collect toys, and then get the money to Just Paws.

E. Engage and Execute:  We took time to test out some designs for signs and money collection.  One of our members used her Canva graphic arts skills for signs, another her physical skills to make the cash collectors, and another to create original art for the poster.

A.  Assessment: We collected toys and cash and made it available to the Just Paws organization. We spent a lot of time trying to make this work in the design stage and had limited amount of time to do the actual collections.    We feel that we were a success in that:

• We all advanced in our skills of teamwork, tech, art, and project planning.
• The goals of help raise awareness or Just Paws and raise some resources for them.
• We did well but could have done more if we made decisions earlier and started our collections sooner with our posters.

S.  Share:  We are sharing this to help others plan for a similar cause.  Partnering with a local organization and their successful program was something we could do with our skill level and we know that the resources we provided would go to good use.  We would suggest others plan to start their actual execution allowing at least a month or two for a program like this.

*Content in this spaces page provided with assistance from mentors.