Paws for a Cause

After hearing about the many displaced pets from Super Storm Sandy, Ms. D’Ortenzio, art teacher at the Davison Avenue Intermediate School in Malverne, worked to coordinate a pet supply drive to benefit the animals in shelters throughout Nassau County. Ms. D’Ortenzio worked the donation drive into an art lesson that focused around civic duties and responsibilities. She discussed with her students the importance of civic duties and responsibilities, especially as it relates to helping others. Students then designed posters communicating the Town of Hempstead Animal Shelter’s need for donations of pet food, blankets and old newspapers and displayed them throughout the school. 

One of her fifth-grade classes named the project “Paws for a Cause,” and students, their families, and staff members generously donated many items. Ms. D’Ortenzio was able to make three large deliveries to the Town of Hempstead Animal Shelter, the temporary animal shelter at Mitchell Field, and to the North Shore Animal League.