Students at Linwood Middle School in North Brunswick have been donating money in support of the North Brunswick Humane Association. KATHY CHANG NORTH BRUNSWICK — What started out as a friendly discussion about a dog has turned into a fundraising challenge at Linwood Middle School.
“My students would approach me at the start of the day and ask me how he is doing and what new stories I have to tell about him,” teacher Neal Sehgal said of his students’ interest in West, his adopted 7-year-old Chihuahua mix.
Sehgal, a sixthgrade language arts teacher, said he noticed that when he started having his students — 63 in total — choose their own books from the library, he observed a certain trend.
“I began to notice that many of them were choosing books about animals, pets, pet care and dog breeds,” he said.
That is when Sehgal said he began thinking of how to expand this interest in a more meaningful way. To enrich the environment of his classroom, Sehgal started the small, social action program Pennies for Puppies.
“Furthermore, I wanted this fundraiser to serve as an example for my kids that even small acts of kindness, compassion and generosity can have a tremendously positive impact on the lives of others,” he said. “In this case, [the] lives being benefited just so happen to be cats and dogs.”
The fundraiser consisted of donation jars where students dropped off their loose change whenever they felt inclined to. The funds, collected in three jars, totaled $304.52, which will be donated to the North Brunswick Humane Association (NBHA), a volunteer nonprofit association serving the Brunswick area with the purpose of educating and guiding the community in the humane treatment of animals.
Sehgal is currently in talks with the director of the NBHA for her to come in and talk to the students about what the funds they raised are going toward and to thank them for their generosity. Students Lixy Montoya, Amanda Clark, Abhie Maharana, Kaylee Guidice, Daniel Guix-Perez and Vaishnavi More said they enjoyed doing their part in helping the homeless animals in their township.
“Giving to the less fortunate is a reward in itself,” Guix-
Perez said.
Sehgal said that since he is a new teacher this year, he wanted to keep this fundraiser small and see how it went.
“A bit like a test run with the hopes that we might be able to expand this fundraiser schoolwide next year,” he said.
For more information about the NBHA, visit www.northbrunswickhumane.org. Contact Kathy Chang at [email protected].