Pet Supplies Drive

Lara Murray-Sterzel, Staff Writer |

Alpha Phi Omega, also known as APO, has dedicated their time this semester to donate supplies for animals at local shelters. APO decided to organize a pet supplies drive because small local shelters in Oneonta have been struggling to get the necessary supplies for their animals.

On Wednesday, Nov. 9, APO orchestrated a small Pet Supplies Drive where students could come and donate any particular item that animals may need. The people holding this event were Vice President Allison Leute of Community Service, Vice President Matthew Miller of Fellowship, and Vice President Catherine Seagle of Service. When the three were asked what the drive was about, Miller said it’s the time in the semester where other organizations are putting together events for different fundraisers, so they chose to do a pet supplies drive to donate to local shelters. Matthew even brought his own dog to the drive to show support. “It’s National Service Week for APO, so the theme is mental health. We did one with his dog as a fellowship to bring brothers together and pet the dog and relax because it’s almost the end of the semester,” said Allison Leute.

APO is very passionate about their volunteer work with animal shelters, having done a pet drive almost every semester and volunteering at the shelters. Miller’s favorite part about the donations is getting the campus together, prompting a good cause, and seeing students happy about it. “It’s pretty wide, the things they’re bringing in because we just said pets supplies as a general thing. So, it could be anything, like one brother brought in treats and pet pads and toys which are all sorts of things for different animals. Someone brought in cat food too,” Allison Leute had expressed.

“I’m very excited about this event. I love animals and pets,” said Catherine Seagle. APO doesn’t have a specific goal of how many items they want to reach, but they hope to donate as much supplies as possible for the pet shelters. When the pet supplies drive was near its end, Allison Leute was asked what’s next for APO now that they have concluded this event. She replied, “We have a lot of other events that we’re doing this semester and then next semester because we do events throughout the whole semester. But unrelated to the pet supply drive we have APO cares which is another mental health themed for Service Week, which is an event where we write notes on post-its and then put them around campus, keeping students’ spirits up with the end of the semester. Telling them to keep going and take care of themselves.”