Saturday May 14^th the famous front porch of the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, MA was the battleground for the Richmond Consolidated School “Young Apprentices” contest. Mrs. Smiths’ third grade boys challenged the third grade girls, that they could raise more money for the animals at the Berkshire Humane Society selling cookies than the girls could by selling lemonade. Bruce Finn, General Manager of the RLI, invited the apprentices to use the Red Lion Inn and supplied them with the tables, linens, vases of flowers and easels to promote the contest.

The young entrepreneurs set up their respective tables filled with yummy baked goods, and 3 kinds of lemonade to sell to the patrons. The students created their own marketing signs and collection boxes for the contest and exhibited keen salesmanship traits to the passersby. No one left the porch without a drink or something to eat.

Additional members of the “Young Apprentice” teams took to the sidewalk around the RLI and the corner of routes 7 & 102 flagging down motorists to donate to the cause. Proud parents stood by as the sales kept adding up, watching their children work so hard to help the Berkshire Humane Society. At the end of the competition, Jayne Church, Gift Shop Manager and several parents counted the money in secrecy.

The Young apprentices were then lead up the many flights of stairs to the third floor Treadway Room where a sign greeted the; “The Board Room”. Everyone was seated; Girls on the left Boys on the right and then “Donald Frump” and his assistants walked into the Board room and took their seats at the Board table. Mr. Finn had donned an unkempt red wig in the style of Donald Trump. The room roared in laughter. Mr. Frump then asked each side how they thought they had done. The announcement was then made that the boys earned $520 and the girls raised $431. The real winners are the homeless animals at BHS who will be helped by the generosity and compassion of these amazing Young Apprentices.

Olivia, age 9 from Williamstown hosted a Christmas party with her friends and asked they bring a item to donate to the shelter. Olivia arrived with a big basket of pet food and toys and filled many animals hearts with joy!

Mrs. Robbie’s 4th grade class at Becket-Washington School in Becket, MA conducted a school wide collection for the Berkshire Humane Society and raised $153 for the animals at BHS. Most of the money was in the form of pennies… one student gave the entire contents of her Piggy Bank to help our homeless animals. The “Furry Ambassador” with the students is named Noah.

Mr. Boillat’s 3rd Grade class at Cheshire Elementary School in the Berkshires, collected a van full (no kidding) of pet-food, toys, treats, sand and other shelter supplies.

The students conducted a school wide donation drive for the Berkshire Humane Society before the Holidays. They did an awesome job of showing how kids can accomplish a great deal, when they we empowered to help others, especially homeless animals.

Jamison and Cooper, ages 11 and 8 of Pittsfield, each donated $25 of their Christmas Money as a Holiday gift for the animals at BHS. Their Dad and Stepmom generously matched the donation to the shelter. The boys are graduates of Camp Humane, so they know firsthand how much the donation will help the homeless animals at BHS.

Shannon had her 8th birthday Party here in the BHS classroom and asked her guests to bring presents for the pets, not for her. Shannon is an amazing young lady with a generous heart.

Hannah and Amy (graduates of Camp Humane) wanted to help the BHS animals at Christmas time, so they earned money and purchased much needed supplies and toys for our homeless animals at the shelter.

Sullivan Elementary School students raised over $800 dollars by holding a read-a-thon. They got the school to sign on to the event and had 71 participants; a kindergartener came in 2nd place. They used the money they raised to purchased items from our wish list.

Click on the picture of your choice, to see it full sized.

This is Nick…He was given $5 by his teacher,to do something “good with it” and he decided to donate it to the animals at BHS. He mentioned what he was doing to his barber and he donated $5 too!