Press Round up

Humane Society Silicon Valley September 2010 Newsletter

Two Paws Up to Henry Tien Shing Keys for collecting more than 50 blankets for our shelter animals! Henry and his mother Vivian wanted to do a fun summer project that would benefit the animals at our shelter. So, they set out to collect 40 blankets in 40 days! The two went to Freecyle and other locations to collect blankets, toys and other items. They also approached neighbors, family and friends for donations. They ended up surpassing their goal with 55 blankets and an assortment of toys and other items for our shelter animals.

"It's fun to help animals at the Humane Society because they need to be happy while they're waiting to be adopted," said Henry, who attends Fisher Middle School in Los Gatos. Mother Vivian says that collecting items for the animals was a great project because it challenged Henry, gave him a goal and kept him occupied during the last month of summer. Henry, who posed for a photo with Dino, one of our shelter guests who we highlighted in this enewsletter, said he enjoyed meeting the large dog. "Dino is a very sweet, adorable dog. I haven't really been around a large dog before," said Henry whose family has a 15-year-old pug at home. "I hope he finds a home."

Los Gatos Weekly Times September 7, 2010

Henry's been 'dog'-gone busy, collecting blankets for animals

When asked what he did over summer vacation, Fisher Middle School sixth-grader Henry Tien Shing Keys has a ready answer: He collected blankets and bags of toys to donate to Humane Society Silicon Valley.

Henry also attended basketball camp and went hiking, biking and golfing with his father, but the month of August was activity-free, so he and his mom came up with a project to collect 40 blankets in four weeks and donate them to HSSV.

"It was a way to get me thinking and get me through the entire month," Henry said. "Otherwise I would have been playing video games and watching TV."

At 11 years old, Henry is too young to volunteer at the shelter, so this was his way of giving back. "I wanted him to have a summer project, and he loves animals," mom Vivian Keys said. "I helped, but he managed the whole thing."

Henry and his mom used electronic media to solicit donations from family members and friends. "We mostly did everything on e-mail," Keys said. "We belong to the Los Madres parenting group and Freecycle neighborhood groups in Los Gatos and Campbell. We also contacted Facebook friends."

Henry knows how to use all those programs and was able to put them to good use, collecting 55 blankets in less than four weeks and exceeding his original goal.

"It was a fun project," Henry said. "It's also fun to help animals at the humane society because they need to be happy while they're waiting to be adopted."

When Henry and his mom took the donations to HSSV, Henry met a shelter dog named Dino. "Dino is a very sweet, adorable dog," Henry said. "I haven't really been around a big dog before. I hope he finds a home."

The Keys have a 15-year-old pug named Bucky, so were unable to adopt Dino themselves. "We want to focus on Bucky," Vivian said. "He went to all the concerts in town this summer."

Meantime, the humane society is planning its eighth annual Walk 'N' Wag fundraiser that will take place Oct. 2 at the Animal Community Center's campus, 901 Ames Ave. in Milpitas.

Final Count

The day before yesterday, I got more blankets from my grandmother. She lives in Carmel so I got to visit the beach. I also visited downtown Carmel. My grandmother had some blankets for us. After the visit, the final count on blankets stood at 55. Here are the final pics:

Ending Statement

Yesterday I received fifteen blankets, putting our total at 46. This means that 4 Weeks, Forty Blankets is now over.

I'd like to thank everyone who donated, or helped donate. A special thank you to the Happy Dragon, for helping by giving us things. Another thank you to the Humane Society.

Lastly, I'd like to thank Dino the dog, and of course, my mom. You two really helped it get going.

This is the official end of 4 Weeks, Forty Blankets. But who knows what will happen next year?

The Big Photo Shoot

Yesterday was my big moment. After lots of discussion, Mom finally got the Humane Society to do something exciting. Just what? I got to have my picture taken, the possibility of being in the Humane Society's fall newsletter and a chance to be in our local paper, the Los Gatos Weekly. This is just how it all went down.

We showed up with the car stuffed with stuff. I was holding some of the cuter stuffed animals to take some load off. Some of the Humane Society people were hosting a meeting outside, so we passed them on the way in. We came inside and told the person at the front desk why we were there. While we were waiting, we saw some new employees getting introduced to a big, 70-pound Shepherd and Chow mix named Dino (pronounced Dee-no). The person we asked for came in and saw that we were watching Dino. She explained that he would be the dog in the pictures with me later.

Now, let me explain about Dino. He's a young dog at only 4 years old, yet he's already had hip problems. In fact, he has a artificial hip. On the hip, you can see the mark where they did the surgery. However, that does not stop him from wanting to play, but the people have to stop him from playing TOO much.

Once we were done talking about the pictures later, with guidance from one of their trainers, I took Dino for a short walk. Actually, I'd more describe it as him tugging and me holding on in the begging. But after a little time, he started to walk calmly at my side. He's very sweet, and I got to give him some treats for being such a good dog. I wish Trinket got to have some of those treats. They were hamburger flavor.

As for the pictures, they were pretty boring compared to walking a dog that is about as heavy as you are. I'm glad I got to spend some time at the Humane Society.

Pic from Yesterday

Yesterday I visited LT. She wasn't at home, but the things were waiting at the end of her driveway. She owns two dogs, who were barking at us when we picked the stuffed animals up. Here is the picture of some of the stuffed animals (the cutest ones):

This Past Few days'(blankets and stuffed animals haul)

Two days ago I picked up two blankets, each in it's own bag. Yesterday, Mom picked up 9 baby blankets, two blankets and some cute stuffed animals. Here are the pictures:

The count on blankets is now up to 28.

More Stuff

Yesterday we pulled in a big haul: 2 medium sized bags of towels, 1 huge bag of sheets, 2 blankets, 3 small rugs and a dog pad. The contributors were Fae, Liza and Jeanee. Here are the pictures:

The Recent Blankets

Two days ago, we got five more blankets donated. They are real dog blankets. This is the picture of all five, and also a picture of my personal favorite. Enjoy!

Humane Society (pics)

Here are the pictures of the cutest dogs in the Humane Society, which Mom and I visited yesterday.

We also visited the Happy Dragon in Los Gatos to drop off the dolls and non-dog toys. We got 3 blankets and 2 towels there as well.

Humane Society

After Amy's house we went to the Humane Society to ask questions and check out the dogs. Another reason was so that we could drop off two huge bags of stuffed animals and five blankets. We pulled into the parking lot, and the first thing I noticed was a few big fenced-in grassy areas. On closer inspection, they turned out to be dog exercise areas. The dogs would be taken out there and get the running around out of their system. Enough with the outdoors. I entered the building and saw the rabbit habitat first.

The rabbits had their small section of the building designed just for them, with ramps and stick huts. They had plenty to eat, a sign of the Humane Society's care. They were just lying around, sleeping, eating, and occasionally, hopping around. I called Mom in from parking the car, so she could see the bunnies. Mom is fascinated with bunnies. I don't think it will be long before Dad cracks and lets her get one. However, the bunnies got boring. On to the dogs.

The dogs also had their own section of the building to themselves. There were about thirty different rooms. Almost every room contained a dog. In each room there was a bed, a chair for the workers coming in, and toys. I discovered that the smaller the dog, the more toys they had. Mom referred to the toys as the dogs traveling companion, which sounded very true to me. Also, the smaller the dog, the cuter it was.

The cutest one, well that was a tie between Oliver and Lilly. Both of them were Chihuahua mixes. In fact, most dogs there were Chihuahua mixes (some conspiracy against Chihuahuas?) but the dogs didn't really care. Oliver was a cute black dog the reminded me of our old dog Trinket, only with different eyebrows. Oliver was also smaller than Trinket. Lilly was whitish-tanish dog that loved the worker who came in to feed her and clean her windows. When the worker left, Lilly kept trying to find a way through the doors.

Will it stay a tie? Who knows? But I hope they both get adopted. Whatever, family they go to, they're sure to show their love and caring.

Today's Stuffed Animals

Today, a lady named Amy donated more stuffed animals to our expanding cause. Hooray! She has a daughter, most likely the one donating all the stuffed animals. I don't know her age, but I know she's just like me in race: 50% chinese, 50% white. Of course I'm not exactly 50% white, but that's another story.

Anyway, there were several cute stuffed animals in there. There was one from Serta the mattress company (probably some kind of door prize). There was another very cute bear, with his head so covered in fur that you couldn't see his eyes. Then there was a white fru-fru dog, which my mom loved.

From her e-mail, I thought Amy wasn't going to be there, but she was, standing at the door ready to greet us. She was very nice and understood our cause. Now there's someone you want to see again.

The pictures:

Pictures of Last Visit

Here are some pictures of the things we got from Stacey's house. There is one cute one that is a child headrest for the car in the shape of a brown dog. It has it's own identical beanie baby. Anyway, here are the pictures.

Stuffed Toys

The bear is really funny. His arm rotates 360 degrees.

Do I ask for pink blankets?

New Things

Seems like I'm visiting a new house everyday nowadays, but that's how I want it to be. We need people to keep donating, otherwise, I'm really lost on what to do. I've been trying my hardest, no one seems to notice. Oh well. Just gotta keep going. Today I visit a Amy, and I hope she's got good stuff. I seem to think that a lot nowadays.

Toys On The Way (pictures)

Mechanical Toys

Stuffed Toys

Blanket

Dolls

Toys On The Way

We recently picked up two bags of toys, also a bag of blankets. I don't know how much stuff is in there, I just know it is a lot.

Two Blankets Come First

Recently, Sue, who blogs at the Portuguese Water Blog, was the first one to send two blankets to our cause. Hooray! Here are the pictures:

Blanket Sizes

I want to thank you all for commenting on this blog. As reference to some comments made on our first post, here are the needs for the blanket sizing.

The blankets the Humane Society needs can be any shape or size, as long as they are machine-washable, so they can be able to be used more than once. Remember that dogs are using the blankets, so the smallest can hold a Chihuahua, where as the largest can hold a Great Dane or other big dog.

I hope this is not too much information to get at one time. Thank you for following this blog.

How this all started

Henry is going to have the entire August off with no summer camp or pretty much anything planned. In all the years I’ve been working we always had a place to “stash” him (day care, school, after school care, nanny, grand parents, summer camps, all of them). I’m starting a business so I work from home most of the time and not making any money. It seems logical to save the money and keep him at home and let me entertain him.

That’s a tall order. I just hope we both survive the month.

So I have to get creative and come up with something challenging. Henry loves animals. Henry likes working on a project, keeping track of things, and taking charge. Henry can take pictures, write, and do math.

Here is my grand idea:

Campaign: Four Weeks 40 blankets

During the month of August, Henry and I will collect 40 blankets on bahalf of Humane Society of Silicon Valley. We will cordinate with our friends and family, advertise through assorted organizations we belong to, as well as Freecycle and Craigslist. We will pick up the donations from homes and businesses, and drop them off every Friday at Humane Society office. We will also collect toys, food, medications that people want to donate. We will keep track of the donations, take pictures, blog about our experience, and set up a Facebook Page to share with our followers.

We have received blessing from Humane Society and we can turn in whatever we collect. So we are on track for a kick start!