ARS Donation Drive for BARCS

On Saturday January 4th, a group of students, teachers, and parents visited the Baltimore Animal Rescue Care Shelter (BARCS) to deliver the collected donations from the school-wide campaign held this Fall.  Below are a few words from those who were there about their experience:

 

The fifith and sixth grade girls under the guidance of Sr. Halimah and inspired by Khadija Silmi’s idea, organized a donation drive for the Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter (BARCS)  a much needed community service project. While at BARCS we were privileged to receive a tour of the animal shelter. Our wonderful tour guide, Tayrn, explained how the shelter works and the different animals they take care of. She explained how they are a no kill shelter and when any type of animal is brought into them, they take it in, care for it, and find it a good home. The shelter mostly receives cats and dogs, but they have received uncommon animals such as snakes and lizards. Tayrn also explained how they are always in need of volunteers; you must be 13 or older to volunteer. If you would like to volunteer, adopt an animal or just visit, check out the BARCS website: https://barcs.org. I can’t wait to visit and maybe even volunteer at BARCS soon.

 

– Jenna Awadallah | SGA President

 

“I really admired how the volunteers took charge and made us and the animals feel safe at the same time. I saw how much the volunteers loved and cared for the animals. I loved how kind the animals were and how much the volunteers appreciated that. I loved how the volunteers explained each feature of the cats and dogs. In conclusion, we really enjoyed our trip to BARCS animal shelter. We really want to thank all of the teachers that helped us accomplish this mission and to everyone who donated to our cause. We want this to inspire others our age to show that we are not too young to make a difference.”

 

– Khadijah Silmi, 5th Grade Student

 

“The students represented the school and Islam in the best of manners. They showed a sense of open-handedness that exceeded their maturity. Kudos to these young people, who I trust will make significant accomplishments in their future endeavors.”

 

– Sr. Fatima A.K, ARS Teacher

” I immediately took my camera out of my backpack and took a picture of the sign of BARCS. In the shelter, my group and I learned a lot about cats and dogs. We learned that the aggressive Pitbull isn’t aggressive at all. It just has a lot of energy. If you keep it in a cage all day the Pitbull becomes aggressive. We also learned that some cats are workers. They are used to catch rodents in offices. We learned a lot at BARCS, and we loved seeing all the animals. We never wanted to leave.”

 

– Mikaylah Bell, 5th Grade Student

 

“Seeing the students’ excitement and curiosity for the animals’ wellbeing was inspiring, proving that love and care runs deeply and profoundly in all of us for other living things. As Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said, “Every act of kindness is a sadaqa.” This was a sadaqa that will remain a significant and motivational moment in the students’ lives by reinforcing the abundant rewards of kindness, humanity, and empathy that will create more opportunities for community building and volunteer work in the future.”

 

– Sr. Fatuma A. M, Second Grade Teacher & Parent