Local Girl Scout help animal shelter with recent project

HAZARD, Ky. (WYMT) - One local Girl Scout took the last couple of months to give back to her community.

16-year-old McKenzie Roark took her final project to earn the gold award to make dog and cat beds for the Kentucky River Regional Animal Shelter.

“Oh I love animals and we’ve worked with the shelter once before and we made dog houses for the shelter and I just thought it would be fun to work with them again,” said Roark. “My project has to be a project that will last in my community and I figured these would last for multiple animals that come and go in the shelter.”

As the shelter sees less foot traffic during COVID-19, Roark’s 80-hour project resulted in 10 new dog beds and eight cat beds.

“We just took PVC pipe and we put them together with glue and we screwed them together and took outdoor material and made covers for them so the dogs can lay on them and it’s stretchy,” said Roark.

Minnie Owsley, a shelter worker, says they can always use donations.

“I think it’s awesome to see the youth getting involved with nonprofits in the area especially when it benefits stuff like the shelter,” said Owsley. “It helps with the stress of the pets. They are not laying on concrete they have somewhere elevated to make their life a little better while they’re here.”

An act of kindness giving the animals a better life during their time at the shelter while they seek a forever home.

As the number of cats increases at the shelter, shelter officials are asking for help on cat adoptions. Cat adoptions are $25 for the month of August with an approved application.

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