Tell us a little bit about yourself:

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Megan: My name is Megan Arvonio. I teach Biology at North Pocono High School. I’ve been a teacher for 13 years. I have always had a love of animals and hold a degree in Animal Sciences. I currently own dogs, horses, bees, chickens, geese, rabbits, and fish.

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Lily: My name is Lily Buchinski and I’m a high school senior at NPHS. I’ve loved animals ever since I was a young child and I’ve felt especially strongly about animal related issues (animal testing/cruelty and animals in shelter) for about 4-5 years now. I love to learn and I’m a huge science nerd so when searching for my dream career I combined my love of science and learning with animals and settled on wanting to be a veterinarian. I’ve worked at the Cherry Ridge Veterinary Clinic since this past August (after having shadowed once in June and once in July) as a veterinary assistant. It’s been so fulfilling to be able to help so many animals and people as well as learn and observe so much. The animal closest to my heart is my dog Max, a fourth of July puppy who will be ten this year, and who has helped me through my hardest times. Aside from animals and the vet med field I love dance. I’ve been enrolled in dance classes since I was three at the same studio and I’m now taking tap, jazz, and lyrical classes. In September I plan to go to Wilson College to study Veterinary Nursing and get my technician degree before moving on to graduate school. I also like to read, go thrifting, and learn about environmental issues.

 

What motivated you to start The North Pocono Friends of Animals Club?

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Megan: I didn’t really start the club. I was approached by an old student of mine, Lillian Buchinski who asked if I would be the faculty advisor for their club. She knew of my love of animals, which is why she approached me. I thought it was a great idea and couldn’t wait to get started.

 

Lily: I’m in a lot of clubs at school and I’ve always wanted to win an executive position but never have. When I was in my sophomore year I got the idea for this club because of my strong desire to help out animals/shelters in need but was too nervous to do anything about it. Half way through my junior year, however, I decided to go for it and I (with the help of my wonderful club advisor Mrs. Arvonio) was able to get it up and running for the beginning of this school year (my senior year). It has been so amazing accomplishing the goals of this club and even seeing some of the impact (such as when we brought the shelter pets at Friends With Paws their Christmas presents). It really feels like we’re making a difference and that’s why I wanted to start this club, to make a difference. If I could change just one thing, I would’ve started this club sooner.

 

How did you promote your new group to recruit volunteers?

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Megan: We need a minimum of 10 students to start a club at our school. This is the first year for the club so we didn’t really know who would be interested in joining. There were a few students that knew about the club potentially forming and they started spreading the potential for the formation of the club through word of mouth. Once club sign-ups came around we ended up being flooded with students who were interested in joining. We currently have about 60 active members. The North Pocono Community is really great in advocating for our students and community members to do volunteer work. I believe the large turnout was a result of our amazingly generous community.

 

Lily: ​I was worried that we would not get enough members to even become a club (10) so I asked my friends and even people I knew but wasn’t as close to to “please join just so this can become a club” and I was overwhelmed by the 100+ people that signed up.

 

Did you set goals for your group?

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Megan:  We are a brand new group that got started this year. Our first step was to figure out what rescues the kids wanted to work with. Then we brainstormed for fundraiser ideas. Once we got the ideas we would come up with goals and deadlines for the students to comply with.

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Lily: Our goals are to get the word out about the pets in the shelter and raise as much supplies and money for shelters as we can to help them out. Since it is the first year for the club we do not have an exact amount set for our goals, but we’ll have a better idea by the end of the year what the clubs goals could be next year.

 

What type of fundraisers have you done?

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Megan: So far we have done a dog treat fundraiser that allowed us to raise over $1,200. We baked the treats on our own. We also got most of the dogs in Dessin Animal Shelter and Friends with Paws Animal Shelter sponsored for the holidays. We have a supply drive coming up that will hopefully help gather necessary supplies for the shelters. In addition to the fundraisers we help to promote shelter animals on our Instagram page and through the journalism club at our school.

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Lily: Our first fundraiser was a homemade dog/cat treat sale. Our second was a Christmas sponsoring drive in which we got shelter dogs/cats everything they wanted from their “Christmas lists”. And right now we are planning a shelter drive which will take place at the end of January. We also have an Instagram account (@np_friendsofanimals25) in which we post a pet of the week every Friday to get the word out about a pet searching for a home.

 

Were you happy with the results of your fundraiser. Is there anything you would do differently?

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Megan: In a few short months we went from not knowing if we could get the minimum 10 members to join our club to being able to raise the money and supplies that we have. I’m very thankful for the interest and support we have gotten so far. Since we are new my main goal for future club events and fundraisers is to be as welcoming to everyone as possible and to appreciate everyone's time and talents who want to help.

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Lily:  I’ve been overwhelmed and overjoyed with the success and impact this club has been able to make so far. We raised $1,200 with the treat sale alone and were able to donate a trunkful of presents to both Dessin Animal Shelter and Friends With Paws after the sponsoring drive. As with anything new, the club is in part trial and error and for next year we will have to get the word out about the treat sale a lot more, but overall our fundraisers have been a success and we are learning and adapting as we go.

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Do you plan to continue your group and do future fundraisers?

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Megan: Lily graduates this year, so we have been trying to lay a groundwork for the future of our club so that elections for club positions can run smoothly. We are also trying to generate interest in the club for underclassmen to continue the club in future years. We are attempting to do that by having our fundraisers tied into our school’s Spirit Week competition. When students participate in fundraisers they get ‘spirit week’ points. Whichever class, freshman, sophomores, juniors, or seniors earns the most points during the competition wins the honor of winning Spirit Week. We believe this will really help garner interest in the club because the competition amongst the classes can get fierce during spirit week.

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Lily:  I will be graduating in June this year which is bittersweet for many reasons, but this club in particular holds a special place in my heart. This club means everything to me and I’ve put in a lot of hard work and late nights to keep things running smoothly. I’ve been laying the groundwork for this club to continue without me after I graduate and we will be holding voting for executive positions at the end of this year so that I can pitch in on who will be keeping the club going after I’m gone. Also we have a few more fundraisers in the works for this year as well as a whole list of ideas to choose from for next year and years to come.

 

Do you have any tips you would like to share with other students that have an interest in starting a club with the goal of community service?

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Megan: Try to find out people’s strengths and interests so that you can utilize them. I also try to make club meetings fun by bringing bunnies with me to club meetings that the kids can pet and play with during the meeting. It’s fun to have them there and having them there is a good conversation starter. I do my best to make the club a welcoming place, which I think makes people want to help more.

 

Lily: ​ First talk to your administrators about how your school goes about starting new clubs and find yourself an advisor who is as passionate about the club’s goals as you are and is willing to work with you on getting the club off the ground. The most important thing is getting the word out any and every way you can not only about the club itself but about fundraisers once the club is started. Oftentimes people want to help and be involved but if they don’t know that a fundraiser is happening or that a club even exists, they won’t be able to contribute.