Maddy McQueeney, 10, with her dog Bosun. Maddy is holding up the book she wrote and self-published. Copies of the book were given away to friends and family, and any cash contributions collected were given to the Annapolis SPCA. It is one of many activities Maddy has undertaken as a way to raise money for the animal shelter — a passion of the Edgewater girl.
Maddy McQueeney loves animals. The 10-year-old mostly loves dogs, but she also likes cats and other animals. In fact, her very first word was "dog."
When Maddy grows up, she said that she wants to live on a farm so that she can take care of "lots of dogs and other animals too." But that could change because she also sometimes feels like she wants to be a teacher, or a writer.
The Edgewater girl is so passionate about animals that she spends much of her time thinking of ways to raise money for the local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Annapolis SPCA on Bay Ridge Avenue.
For her 10th birthday last year, Maddy had a party at her house. The girls she invited played Pictionary and ate cake. But instead of accepting gifts for herself, Maddy asked that her friends bring gifts for the animals at the shelter.
Six of her friends collected 20- and 40-pound bags of dog food, treats and dog biscuits, collars, and one even brought a 2-foot-long rawhide chew bone.
Maddy said she always liked animals, but two things triggered her to take action. One was the heart-wrenching sight of a cat springing from its owners arms outside of a veterinary hospital in Edgewater and darting into the street, where it was struck by a car.
"I saw that and decided it shouldn't happen," Maddy said.
Another thing, Maddy said, was that a neighborhood boy, Jacob Mondoro, told her about some of the things he'd seen on Animal Planet's "Animal Cops" television show.
The show focuses on animal control officers and the horrible conditions they find animals living in: filth, fighting, abuse, starvation.
"I didn't watch the show, but I heard about it and decided to make a change," Maddy said.
She is passionate about making sure that animals be spayed and neutered, "so that there aren't so many animals," Maddy said.
So she hosted the birthday party and delivered the donations to the shelter.
That effort made her feel good.
She also participated with her family in the SPCA Walk at Quiet Waters Park in Annapolis this past spring. For that she raised over $100.
Next, she wrote a book, "Ella Elizabeth and Grimy," which her mom Jennifer helped her to self-publish. It is a fantasy story, not about dogs or animals at all, but since Maddy is a good writer and enjoys reading fantasy fiction, she decided to tell a magical story.
She gave copies of the book to her friends and family members, and accepted donations from anyone willing to contribute. For that, she got over $100, which she again took straight to the shelter.
In addition, the money that Maddy earns from her pet sitting business goes into her collection jar, which she takes to the shelter whenever she can.
Her dad, Ryan, said that they stop by the shelter whenever they're over that way, sometimes to visit the animals, sometimes to drop off items that Maddy has collected.
"They're very good about recording and recognizing contributions," Ryan said. "Maddy always gets a letter and gets her picture taken," he said.
Unfortunately, shelter rules prohibit Maddy from volunteering at the facility because she isn't yet 13.
Sue Beatty is the SPCA's executive director. "The SPCA depends on the support of our community and we are very grateful to Maddy for her thoughtful and very generous contributions," Sue said.
She noted that the cash contributions from people like Maddy are used to helpbuy food for the shelter animals.
Maddy said that she will continue her efforts to help the animals. Next up is an activity with her friend Loren Suite, 10. The girls are making items to sell, like bookmarks and jewelry. Once they sell them, they will donate the money to the shelter.
Maddy is also in the middle of writing another story about a girl who lives in the middle of the mall. She sleeps in a mattress store and bathes in the public fountain. She hopes she can get copies made of that book to sell to raise money as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment