Coatesville's Josh Bonjo, a rising seventh grader who attends The Upattinas School, has three cats, four chickens, and a hamster. Moreover, he has been raised in a vegetarian household, so it comes as no surprise that he wanted to support PETA.
Of course, Josh's innocent intentions don't seem nearly as controversial as the animal rights organization's intentions. When asked what made him take the leap from personal practice to community activism, his answer is simple: "All my life, I've just really liked cats and dogs and other animals." When PETA began sending his family information, he became interested and subscribed to "Grrr," their children's magazine.
With permission, Josh set up a booth in his school's gym, giving away free "Grrr" and "Animal Times" magazines, as well as vegetarian flyers containing myths, facts, and meat alternatives. He also decorated several tin cans with drawings of long-eared, sleepy-eyed cats, and scattered them around town.
Josh's cans fared extremely well at the Abbey Sanctuary in Glenmoore, where all of the patrons were fellow animal-lovers. As of August 3, Josh had raised exactly $200.10 for PETA, and his efforts awarded him a spot on the organization's Web site (http://www.peta.org/kids/grrr2-2004/html/rebels.html).
Josh did not have the same luck raising money at local libraries, but that has not stopped him from donating old books to the Henrietta Hankin Library in Chester Springs. "I'm trying to become a volunteer there," he explained, which he hopes will mean "helping people, working in the young adults section." Josh hopes to someday be an animal cop, but for now he is content to read, go to the library, decorate more cans, and vacation with his family.
Just down the road, Downingtown's Samantha Savino, a rising fifth grader at East Ward, spent her summer planning a Great American Bake Sale event she and her father named "Kids Helping Kids." An enthusiastic baker herself, she explained, "I saw it on the Disney Channel. It was an advertisement... I thought, oh, that'll be really easy." Easy may have been an understatement, but family and friends were more than willing to lend a hand.
Samantha partnered with Jenny Pumphrey, a close friend who helped her make signs, bake, and keep track of the money. Her father, Domenick Savino, who owns Drexelbrook Catering, was first in line to offer his culinary services, and Jenny's and Samantha's mothers (both named Kim), Samantha's younger brother Christian, her grandmother, and her aunts also joined the ranks. They, along with other friends and neighbors, advertised in the neighborhood and at the local Wawa, sent out a mass e-mail, and hurriedly baked as food ran low on the day of the bake sale.
All of the proceeds went toward fighting children's hunger, but the kids who flocked to the Williamsburg neighborhood pavilion on Sunday, July 25 went home full and happy. "We thought we were going to run out," Samantha recalled. "We made so much money just standing on this little island that we had [in the middle of the road], and the cars would pull through this way and that way, and they [other kids] would hold up signs, and we took the orders right from there."
The whole neighborhood, as well as other passersby, feasted on such delights as brownies, pound cake, homemade pizelles, cupcakes in ice cream cones, and ice cream donated by the Blue Bunny Company. The weather may have been rainy, but by 4:30, the bake sale was sold out.
All in all, the event itself brought in $435, and online donations brought in $250 more. Domenick Savino wrote the story on the Great American Bake Sale's Web site, and because their event raised $685, the Savinos were awarded a tee shirt and a duffel bag (both of which they gave to Jenny as a thank you present).
The final verdict? "It was really fun, I loved it," Samantha said. "All the neighbors are like, 'Oh, we'll help out next year. We can make it a big community thing.'"
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