Lynbrook middle schooler helps to save animals

Matthew Bernstein, a seventh grader at South Middle School, has teamed up with Rock & Rawhide and started a collection at six Lynbrook schools for his Bar Mitzvah project. The collection will help local animal shelters and runs until April 26. Matthew’s family adopted Molly last year.

Courtesy Bernstein family

While there are many pet owners in Nassau County, there are still thousands of animals without a home. But help will soon be one the way to some nearby shelters thanks to a Lynbrook seventh grader and an animal-loving, non-profit organization.

Matthew Bernstein, a student at Lynbrook South Middle School, has teamed up with Rock & Rawhide to collect items to be donated to animal shelters in an effort to increase adoption rates.

Rock & Rawhide, created by the husband and wife duo of Sean-Patrick Hillman and Kylie Edmond, seeks to increase adoptions and quality of life for dogs and cats in shelters, by providing distraction therapy, as well as noise and stress reduction, through donations. The organization collects items such as tough chew toys, rope toys, bones and blankets.

“We started doing some research and we found that if you can lower the noise levels in shelter environment,” Hillman said, “it lowers the stress levels, which, just like human beings, allows the dogs and cats to be more themselves instead of being afraid.” Because of this, he added, adoption rates rise.

The Bernstein’s adopted a dog of their own last year named Molly, which helped spark Matthew’s passion for helping animals. “My mom and dad always say ‘find your purpose and look to make a difference,’” Matthew said, “and I’ve always been hearing about animal abuse and I love my dog so much, so I figured I should do what I love.”

While Matthew was in search of a project for his upcoming Bar Mitzvah, his mom, Deena, who is an avid listener to Elvis Duran and the Morning Show, a nationally syndicated radio program, heard Duran speak about the work of Rock & Rawhide in January. Duran is a member the organization’s board of directors.

Matthew then reached out to Edmond to see if they could arrange a project for him to work on, and after a series of email exchanges a plan was hatched. Matthew’s dad, David, a Lynbrook High School graduate, asked his son to create a business plan for the project. “We wanted him to really think about it and take ownership of this so it meant something to him,” David said. “He decided to tie it into the local schools.”