Freshman Alex Stonebarger started a foundation, Fetching Dreams, to help local animals

Freshman Alex Stonebarger brushes her favorite rescue dog, Fletch’s, shiny, black fur. She carefully avoids going over the pit-bull’s sad, scarred face. Though the scars aren’t painful anymore, she can’t imagine how scared and hurt he must have been when he got them. Fletch was picked up on the side of the highway in Kansas City with road burns and scars covering the base of his neck, all across his head, and down to his nose. The Humane Society found out that he was a bait dog, which is a dog trained not to fight back when other dogs attack it, so the other dogs learn how to fight.

Fletch has been at the Humane Society for two years now, but has yet to be adopted. Most people find his maimed face too scary or unappealing to take him home.

“It’s sad because he’s probably the sweetest dog there,” Alex said.

In 2007, Alex was finally able to do something with her passion for working with dogs like Fletch by starting her own charity, Fetching Dreams.  She didn’t realize that there was a problem with animal overpopulation until she visited an animal shelter in Kansas City after moving from Tulsa. So with a little bit of help from a close family friend, Paige O’Connor, and a lot of motivation, Alex  began what would ultimately be one of the most successful student-run charities in the country. Eventually, it would also land her  a “Spirit of Prudential Community Award.”

At Fetching Dreams, they make and sell pet toys out of recycled material. When she started, Alex didn’t have any special material to make the toys. After some scrounging through her drawers, she  decided it would be convenient and earth-friendly to cut up any old T-shirts and blankets she could find around the house. Now that Fetching Dreams has advanced more, she collects used material from all around the community. She sells her toys in a booth at special events, usually art fairs or pet adoptions. Then, she donates the money to the Humane Society or KCK Animal Control.

For Alex, making enough toys for a big event takes an even bigger commitment. Not only does she make different styles of toys, from square-knotted to braided, she also makes the toys different sizes for different dogs.

“For the Plaza Art Fair, we usually make around $600, and to keep up with that, we have to make a ton of toys.” Alex said. “I’m usually up past three in the morning the night before making toys with my mom.”

Alex went through a long selection process before she chose to donate to the Humane Society. She and her mom visited lots of different animal shelters like Waiside Waifs and Animal Haven before they discovered the perfect one.

“Lot’s of shelters say they are no-kill, but still euthanize animals that could be rehabilitated, and the Humane Society works really hard to avoid that,”Alex said.

One of the biggest accomplishments the Humane Society has achieved with donated money so far is decreasing the Animal Control’s rate of animals euthanized down from 70 percent to less than one percent. According to Alex, about $7000 of that money was given to the Humane Society by Fetching Dreams.

Humane Society chairman Jana Brunner has worked with Alex for the past  two and a half years.

“I think Alex is just an amazing kid,” Brunner said. “She’s incredibly passionate and driven, and she came up with a great product.”

Although the Humane Society has helped Animal Control almost completely eliminate euthanization, they still have poor conditions for the animals who live there.

“Visiting Animal Control is even more stressful than making dog toys all night. The stress from seeing the dogs all caged is awful,” Alex said.

According to Alex’s mother, Lori Stonebarger, next to seeing unhappy pets, the most stressful part of Fetching Dreams for Alex is the public speaking.

“While she is quite comfortable talking to customers about their pets, the Humane Society and her toys, she does not like talking about herself and her accomplishments,”  Lori said. “She tends to get grumpy and stubborn right before a public speaking engagement.”

With stress set aside, Alex and her mother have found volunteering especially rewarding.

“The best part is seeing the transformation of the dogs,” Alex said. “They come in scared and injured and sad. But by the time they leave, they’re happy and they have a home. Their lives completely change.”

Besides running Fetching Dreams, Alex also volunteers for the Ray of Hope, the partnership between KCK Animal Control and the Humane Society.

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On an early Thursday night, the PetSmart parking lot is filled with the noise of dogs barking excitedly as they’re unloaded from the Animal Control truck. It’s dog adoption day, and the dogs clearly sense anticipation of getting out of their cold, dreary cages. Alex lines up with about five other Ray of Hope-shirted volunteers; each one takes a dog, snaps a leash to its collar, and heads inside to introduce him to possible adopters.

A tall man with glasses comes up to a volunteer, and asks to see Noreen, the friendly black lab. He needs a potty-trained dog that’s good with small kids, he says. He is handed the red leash, a handful of Pupperoni, and then is off for a walk around the store. He returns a few minutes later with a big grin on his face, and asks if he can get the adoption paperwork.

“For me, the most rewarding part of volunteering is when the dogs get adopted, and their owners bring them back to visit,” Alex said. “It’s good to know that they have good homes now.”

Lori encourages Alex to continue her volunteering, but has decided to leave it up to her when and how often she helps, because she doesn’t want her to become burned out on the volunteer work she does.

“Volunteering has given Alex confidence, helped her overcome some of her shyness and has allowed her to see that she is making positive changes in the world,” Lori said.

In addition to Alex’s gaining of wisdom and confidence from her volunteer work, Fetching Dream’s extreme success also landed her a presidential volunteering award. Last spring she and her parents traveled to Washington D.C. for a week to receive her award. She and 99 other kids across the country were invited to listen to Condoleezza Rice speak, and get $1000 to be given to a charity of their choice and $1000 for themselves.
In the end, getting awards and special recognition is much less rewarding for Alex than seeing dogs go in and out of shelters,and getting adopted.

“When I first started, it was horrible and I could hardly bear just walking through the cages, “ Alex said. “But I’ve seen so many success stories that it’s really amazing to know that people care enough to do that. . . It makes me realize what’s going on outside our own little sheltered lives.”