The Helping Paw Club continues to advocate for the humane treatment of all animals through various fundraisers.

The club was founded by Kevin McKenna in 2013 in hopes of making a difference in the animal world.

“I started it [the club] when I was a sophomore because I like animals and I wanted to help elephants,” president senior Kevin McKenna said. “I talked to a couple of teachers who were able to get it started.”

Social studies teachers Stephen Godbout and Gina Johnston co-advise the club.

According to Johnston, the club is specifically focusing on The International Elephant Foundation and The Baypath Humane Society this year.

“We support animals by raising awareness about what is happening in the animal world and we raise money through our fundraisers such as pizza sales and bake sales,” junior Stephen Dahlstrom said.

The callous extremities elephants endure are what led the club channeling so much of their efforts toward The International Elephant Foundation.

“We are hoping to support the International Elephant Foundation to help save elephants that are dying in the wild,” McKenna said. “The reason why we are supporting that is because 96 elephants are killed each day because of the illegal ivory trade due to poaching.”

The club is able to make a difference through their on-going efforts such as fundraisers throughout the year.

“We do fundraisers like pizza sales and plan on doing a 50/50 raffle to raise money to donate to the organizations,” junior Patrick Neusch said.

The club has high ambitions for their successes and the influence they hope to have on the community.

“Some goals are to raise enough money to make a little impact on a few lives in need,” Neusch said. “We also want to get more people actively involved in trying to lessen animal abuse and protect the animals that are endangered.”

The Helping Paw Club meets after school the second and fourth Wednesday of every month in G102.