STUCO’s Charity Committee, run by Grace Chisholm and Claire Gibbs, hosted their first annual Dog Dash and Puppy Pageant Friday morning. The event took place on the SME track at 10 a.m. Friday, benefitting Great Plains Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).
“We all just decided that [SPCA] was a program in great need,” sophomore class president Matthew Trecek said. “We [wanted] to get a lot of dogs walking and we just [wanted] it to be a really good community get-together thing.”
Great Plains SPCA is a local animal shelter that has a No Kill policy. Public Relations Committee chair Denny Rice said SPCA shelters dogs and helps raise awareness for animal rights.
The event cost $10 per dog entered, and there was a total of 28 dogs. STUCO raised $285, beating their goal of $250. From Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, all donations to SPCA will be matched by an anonymous donor.
“[Our goal was] to raise as much money for the SPCA and for dogs to meet each other,” sophomore class treasurer Kirby Motsinger said. “We [were] shooting for $250 because the people we’re working with are going to double it.”
Once all the dogs checked in, the owner walked their dog to whichever size group they were in: small, medium or large. One by one, the groups made a loop around the track. The judges, members of STUCO, awarded prizes to dogs for different categories, such as “loudest bark” or “dog that looks most like its owner.”
After the Puppy Pageant was the Dog Dash, a race between the dogs. There were only four dogs that ran in this race, but the overall event was called a success because of all the money raised.
“It was a definite success,” Senior Class President Kyle Baker said. “We’re definitely looking at [making it an annual event].”