The Give A Paw club is a newer club at Woodbridge High School with a massive student appeal by supporting a good cause, helping animals in need.

The club was started in 2019 by Alyssa Koenig, a senior at Woodbridge High School, who is  passionate about animals and taking care of them. Koenig said “I started this club because since I was a kid I’ve felt these deep-rooted love of helping animals”

Koenig emailed Michael Switek, a teacher at Woodbridge, to ask if she could start a club to help out animal shelters.

Mr. Switek said, “I jumped at the chance. All of my dogs have been adopted from shelters or through foster groups.”

The club has already jumped on the opportunity to help out the local shelter through the recent hard times. For example, the club helped by bringing a carload of donations for the shelters holiday open house.

So far, Koenig has started a GoFundMe and raised over 2,000 dollars to rebuild the park at the shelter. Koenig said, “the yard is riddled with trees, and it needs a nice clean up”.

Koenig is super excited about the future of this club with future events of pet pictures with Santa and to help sell toy easter baskets again.

She said “It’s amazing how many donations we gathered. I’m so excited to put it together” even her family helps with her stepfather’s job donating over 1,000 dollars.

In the near future, Mr. Switek wants to see his members be more relevant on social media. He personally loves this club because as he said “Selfishly I am using this club to meet as many dogs as I can”.

It seems that it can also be a stepping stone for students who want to work with animals in the future “personally, I love working with animals,” Alex Rendeiro said, “A future career plan I’m considering is working with animals more specifically in zoos”.

Koenig has lots of future planned events when it’s warmer outside, as of right now during the colder months, they are more of a helping hand for the shelter. 

Koenig said, “I’m hoping that some of our younger members keep up with this club and continue it when I graduate”.