To share information about the group’s plans for the future, the first large group meeting of People for Animal Welfare (PAW) since the addition of new board members and the changing of their group’s constitution was held in the Warch Campus Center Cinema at 9 p.m. on Tuesday, May 9.
“The [old] constitution was not structured [effectively],” said sophomore Michaela Rabideau, the new president of PAW. “The old board had too many positions and communication was messy. We’ve now reworked it to make trips more successful”. The board is now five different positions to make communication easier. Applications for the 2017-18 PAW board were sent out on Thursday, May 11.
PAW also changed their mission statement to focus on local animal welfare education and involvement through fundraising, volunteering at shelters, and group activities.
This term, PAW has planned to do several trips to the main animal shelters they visit—Woof Lodge, a dog shelter, and Saving Paws, a cat shelter. The first trip happened Thursday, May 11 at 8 p.m. which was a group dog walking event at Woof Lodge.
PAW has four official events left, including a Woof Lodge trip on Saturday, May 13 from 10:45 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. There will also be two more official group walks at Woof Lodge from 8 p.m. until 10 p.m. on Thursdays May 18 and May 25. There will be one official trip to Saving Paws on Saturday, May 20 from 9:45 a.m. until 12:15 p.m. PAW also plans to coordinate fundraising for Woof Lodge before the end of spring term.
To sign up for any of the trips find PAW on GivePulse. Also to find out about other events, email Michaela Rabideau to be added to the mailing list or find PAW on Facebook. The board of PAW also stated at their meeting on Tuesday that other trips can be organized if more trips are wanted—all that needs to be done to organize that is to message the group via email or on Facebook to see if other members are available. Also, PAW holds board meetings on the fourth floor of the Warch Campus Center at 6 p.m. on Thursdays which anyone can attend.
Next year, PAW plans on running regular trips every week on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings and afternoons. The main events that PAW is planning on for next year is a puppy chow and dog treat fundraiser. Proceeds and extra dog treats will be going to Woof Lodge. Puppies and Pizza is an event that will teach students how to treat service dogs and what their roles are, since “If people don’t behave correctly around [service dogs] their training doesn’t work well,” said Rabideau.
The final event planned for Spring Term 2018 is a fundraiser which will allow members of the Lawrence community to donate money to bring the dog of their choice to campus from Woof Lodge. The dog with the most money donated to it would then come to campus. “It’s an incentive for people to volunteer in an easy way and also to enjoy dogs, since a lot of people miss their pets,” said freshman Sarah Servais, the vice president of PAW.
