Ariela Robinson is bringing cheer to shelter and rescue pets this holiday season. From a young age, she demonstrated a tremendous love for animals by volunteering her time, fostering the most vulnerable, plus adopting four pets associated with her own. Now she is combining her passion for helping shelter and rescue pets live happier lives with her enjoyment of scouting by turning her life’s mission into a Girl Scout Gold Award.

“For my project, I am working to improve the experiences of animals in shelters and rescue groups by reducing the stress and boredom they face, ” Robinson said. “I was inspired to do this task because I love creatures and want to help make their lives better. I also hope to get more pets adopted simply by decreasing their behavioral issues caused by tension. ”

Introduced in 1980, the Girl Scout Gold Award is the organization’s highest award. Requiring strong commitment plus perseverance, this particular prestigious achievement is earned by only about 5. 4% of all eligible Girl Scouts. Candidates must commit to volunteering at least 80 hours on their own chosen project. In Robinson’s case, the girl has more than doubled that amount. Logging over 160 hours, she actually is also striving to earn the Precious metal for the President’s Volunteer Service Award (PVSA).

Fifteen-year-old Robinson will be a longtime West Los Angeles resident and Girl Search. Involved along with this organization since second grade, the lady successfully gained her Bronze and Silver Awards. For both the particular Bronze plus Silver Awards, her service projects centered around assisting animals.

With regard to the Bronze Award, she, along with two other Scouts, organized a pet donation drive. They collected 45 items of dog food, pet supplies, and sheets from the 2018 fifth-grade class of Clover Avenue Elementary School. The items were donated in order to Wags plus Walks, the local West Los Angeles animal save group.

Regarding her Metallic Award, the girl and another Scout worked with several pet rescue groups to organize and host local dog adoption events. They also made adoption kits to increase adoption and help reduce costs for new owners.

Going solo with regard to her Gold Award, Johnson came up with the idea for this service task after talking to staff at the West Los Angeles Shelter. They expressed a specific need for cat privacy screens, food puzzles, hideaway houses and warm fuzzy blankets to help reduce the particular stress of pets in cages. Unfortunately, many caged pets experience either anxiety or monotony. This can lead to behavioral issues and may reduce their chances of adoption.

“Most shelter animals spend most of their time in cages, which leads to dullness and stress, ” Brown said. “Some of the main tension triggers include loud noises, unfamiliar smells, unfamiliar feelings such as cold floors plus not feeling safe, and seeing lots of people and creatures. This may result in even worse problems, such as sickness plus more behavior issues, like pulling out their fur and spinning around within their cages. All associated with those factors can decrease their likelihood of getting adopted. ”

During the summer, Robinson organized an animal donation drive drop-off at the Cheviot Hills Recreation Park. While this particular drive lasted only a few weeks, the donations continued to pour in throughout the duration of the girl project. She collected a total of 892 items like pet beds, blankets, towels, cat homes, and toys from the particular community. The Lange Foundation generously donated a lot more than 100 toys in order to Robinson. These toys were given to the West La Shelter to implement a new toy rotation program, an idea that Johnson came upward with.

“I came up with a concept to do a toy rotation program in the Western Los Angeles Animal Shelter, where toys will be rotated between animals (after washing/sanitizing) so that they do not get bored of playing with the same toys regarding a long amount associated with time, ” Robinson said. “I’ve noticed with my own animals that will after having fun with the exact same few playthings over and over again, they get uninterested and uninterested. Something because simple since giving them a different toy can make all of them much more happy. ”

A key component of her Gold Honor project is usually to educate and inspire others to continue this mission. During the fall, the girl project shifted gears in order to focus on making enrichment/de-stressing items and educating others. Although Brown made many of the particular items herself, she still needed assistance in producing more donatable items. To address this, Robinson created several presentations/workshops at local venues including the Palms-Rancho Library, Cheviot Hillsides Recreation area, and Motor Avenue Farmers Market. The girl also presented workshops to neighborhood Lady Scout Troops.

The workshops consisted of a brief presentation about the importance of family pet enrichment plus de-stressing animals. Then the participants had been invited in order to choose which enrichment items they wanted to make. There were several options and the lady provided detailed instructions and pictures. The success of the workshops was evident with 130 participants making 316 homemade enrichment items to donate.

Working with a limited budget plus an eye toward the environment, the majority of the particular items were made out of recycled household materials.

“One associated with the main reasons I did the training courses was to inspire other people to help their particular local animal shelters and rescue groups, ” Robinson said. “All of the products we produced on the workshops were simple and could be done along with common household objects, such as toilet paper/paper towel rolls, old t-shirts, tennis balls, plus socks. Also i provided everyone with the take-home packet so they could continue to make more what to donate to pet shelters and rescue organizations. ”

Johnson also relied on the generosity of businesses to support this particular project. The lady received a large monetary gift of used tennis balls from the tennis instructor at the Griffin Club. The particular balls had been used to make sock toys, and tug toys, plus the remainder was given to animal shelters and rescues.

Also, Anthony Irrazabal through Carpet Plus donated a large piece of new carpet. The carpet was cut up and used in order to make kitty hideaway houses and scratching posts, plus then the remainder was donated to Stray Cat Alliance. Centinela Feed, located on Pico Boulevard within West La, generously donated a large bag associated with hay which was utilized to make bathroom paper and paper soft towel roll playthings for rabbits and guinea pigs, with North Central Animal Services receiving the remainder.

All of the 1, 208 home made and collected items were donated to 18 shelters plus rescue groupings. To distribute all of the contributions, Robinson made close to 30 trips, along with several organizations receiving two visits from her. Some of the additional shelters/rescues benefitting included: Beach City Kitties, CatCafe Lounge, Chesterfield Square Pet Shelter, Feline and Friends, Forte Animal Rescue, NKLA, Pet Pride Cat Protection, and Westside German Shepherd Rescue associated with Los Angeles.

Since a key element from the Precious metal Award is definitely sustainability, Brown caused different organizations in order to offer long-term solutions in order to continue the positive effects of this support project well beyond its completion. One of these long-term donations is the customized donation bin. In the middle of December, Robinson offered a permanent gift bin to the West Los Angeles Shelter. The purpose associated with this bin is to encourage people to continue donating needed de-stressing items to the particular shelter for years to come, long after this project can be completed.

“Previously, the donations were put on the floor, but now there is the large rubbish bin that can hold them securely, ” Robinson said.

Aimee Rousey, Pet Care Technician-Volunteer Liaison, added, “Staff are thrilled about the donation bin and people who regularly drop items off mentioned how nice it is too. It’s a great aesthetic improvement towards the shelter. Ariela has done such a great job with collecting donations for the animals and communicating with us about some other ways to assist. ”

Another notable aspect of this Gold Award services project incorporated Robinson connecting Kitty Bungalow with the particular Stern Memorial Trust Basis. Due to this association, Kitty Bungalow applied for plus won a $1, 500 grant in November.

“We were extremely touched in order to learn that Kitty Bungalow was an awardee of the Sidney Stern Memorial Trust grant, ” said Dr . Melanie Wagner, executive director of Kitty Bungalow. “Further, we are usually honored by Ariela’s and her family’s recommendation intended for this grant. Our personnel and volunteers work to alleviate animal stress, so we are thrilled to collaborate with Ariela to provide toys and questions at our South LA location. These types of items keep cats’ brains and bodies occupied and can reduce the time before being used, making the particular animal’s transition to a home much easier. ”

Additionally , the Santa Monica Animal Shelter indicated a need for a good agility course to assist de-stress the particular dogs at the protection. Robinson individuals Animal Control officer Martin Hernandez to select the perfect agility program fitting the shelter’s needs. Now the particular dogs are thrilled to go outside and try out their brand new equipment.

To help homeless domestic pets de-stress while they wait for their forever homes, Johnson worked diligently to create sure all the organizations received the products just within time for the holidays. During December, she made the rounds again, dropping away all of the gathered and homemade enrichment items to local pet shelters and rescue groups.

“I feel glad to help the pets, and hope the items I given benefit the animal shelters plus rescue groups greatly, ” Robinson stated.

For more information regarding Robinson’s project, visit her YouTube Channel (called Reducing Animal Stress) that has videos on how to make some from the animal products. She also created Instagram and Pinterest accounts (@reducinganimalstress) and the website (reducinganimalstre. wixsite. com/goldaward) to educate, inform, and encourage others in order to help the particular animals in their community.