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Second-graders surprise PAWS with donation on Giving Tuesday

The Tuesday after Thanksgiving is called Giving Tuesday, and it's when people are encouraged to give to nonprofits.

Some Lynnwood Elementary School students took that mission to heart.

There are 15 new sets of paws at PAWS in Lynnwood this Giving Tuesday -- good boys and good girls transported here from a kill shelter in Texas, but this dog delivery is one of many the nonprofit receives every year.

"Texas, California, Louisiana -- where we're able to take in animals from crowded shelters that are at risk of euthanasia and bring them here to PNW and be able to adopt them out in amazingly short order," said Leslie Chandler, the interim CEO of PAWS.

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That's because each dog has a bio online and on his or her kennel explaining to prospective pet parents why this furry friend is the perfect fit.

Every year for more than a decade, Jennie Warmouth's second-grade students at Spruce Elementary School are the proud authors of many of those bios; this year's class penned one for Cider, a pup currently available for adoption at PAWS.
"We came up with the idea of them writing adoption advertisements for the more difficult dogs and cats to place here at PAWS. Most of my kids live within about a mile of the shelter," Warmouth said.

But there's more: The kids fundraised $387.57 for PAWS and handed over their check to the CEO in person.

"They are very, very, very excited. It's the most money they've ever seen in one place so we actually counted it out penny by penny," Warmouth said.

That task included a lesson in multiplication.

"It was, like, my first time that I ever did times," Julius Burke said proudly.

He's the brains behind this line on Cider's bio: "Guess who is as sweet as apple cider?" Julius said he and his classmates are thrilled to support Cider and the rest of the dogs and cats at PAWS. In fact, he said he's the grateful one on this Giving Tuesday.

"Pretty thankful," Julius said.

"It makes me very proud," Warmouth said of her students. "It's what I am most proud of in my career."

Giving Tuesday doesn't end Tuesday. You can donate at Paws.org/givingTuesday until the end of the day Wednesday.