Our Community Activist

Claire, Ollie & Hugo at the Walk for Animals

Those of you who know Claire know that her passion for reusing and recycling is second only to her enthusiasm for all things animal-related - and, in particular, all things related to Ollie and Hugo.  I was, therefore, not really surprised when she recently told me that she wished people could marry dogs, because Ollie "would just make such a great husband, wouldn't he, Mom?!"

She's also put her money where her mouth is, and this weekend embarked on her first-ever act of charitable fundraising by participating in the MSPCA's Walk for Animals.  She wrote up the text for her own fundraising web page and began soliciting donations (including by using me as her email and FB-posting agent!)  She set - and exceeded - a goal of $200.  She learned yesterday that she can still raise money through the end of the month, so she raised her goal to $300; she met that, and has just informed me that it is now $400.  (I'm also her webmaster, so she had to instruct me to make the change on her little thermometer-measure that shows how close she is to her goal).  The Walk was fantastic - a beautiful fall day, with 2000 people and 1000 dogs circling the Boston Common - happy chaos!  The highlight for me, though, was seeing her beaming as she crossed the "finish line" and said, "Mommy, can you believe how much money I raised to help animals?!"