Three Ridgefield teens with two things in common, a love of cats and a philanthropic spirit, are raising money for the organization that has become more like family to them.
Maiki Muursepp, Grace Hooker and Callie Thompson each began volunteering for Rock n Rescue, a non-profit animal rescue organization in South Salem, NY, in the cat room on adoption days. Rock n’ Rescue’s founder Juli Cialone has not only valued it’s teen volunteers since its inception, but teens themselves (the founder’s own children) were also the original inspiration that motivated Juli to combine her love of music and animal rescue, thus creating Rock n’ Rescue.
These three teens, along with many others from Ridgefield and South Salem, are the backbone of the organization, allowing Juli and her co-director Marla Valentine to rescue and re-home thousands of animals a year and to provide community outreach programs deeply rooted in the therapeutic benefit of animals; thus their motto “We rescue pets to rescue people!”
Maiki, Grace and Callie’s involvement with the organization has grown; while they continue to volunteer on adoption days, they also blog, assist with social media, create videos for the organizations’ YouTube page, manage other volunteers and fundraise. And Marla and Juli appreciate it beyond measure, “we could not do what we do without our volunteers and we truly appreciate all the time and effort they put into our organization. These kids show up and put their heart into their work. We love their commitment, determination and eagerness to learn.”
The junior advisory board is offering an art class for children ages 7-11 who want to draw “Meowntains of Cats”. The volunteers will offer an hour virtual class in which every participant will learn the basics of drawing cats and there will be a fund discussion of cats. There will also be a show and tell time where each participant can show off his or her drawing and real cat too! Participants should have their own supplies, just paper and colored pencils! Suggested donation to attend is $10.
For more information on the Meowntains of Cats, please email the junior advisory board at rocknrescueboard@gmail.com and to learn more about Rock n Rescue, visit https://rnrpets.org.