LYNDON- Too many animals from the Northeast Kingdom wind up living in shelters, and one student from Lyndon State College came up with an idea to help keep homeless local area cats more comfortable.
Mittens for Kittens originally started as a catchy name thought up by Lyndon State Resident Assistant, Stephen Decatur, before blossoming into a beneficial project getting students involved in helping the community's misfortunate four-legged friends.
"I wanted to do this event because I like animals and I wanted to do something that got people involved with the animal shelters in the area... I went around to local restaurants and to the ski resort and asked for donations, or if they had any lost and found boxes that they needed to get rid of. Burke gave me all their single pairs and all the doubles that weren't really nice enough to give away."
With 47 mittens collected, a small group of Lyndon students sat down in the college's student center, filling the worn out winter wear with stuffing and cat nip, giving them a new life. Decater said the entire project costed less than $20.00, which he thinks was well worth it to help out the shelter cats. He plans to donate the mitten toys to Kingdom Animal Shelter in St. Johnsbury, Second Chance Animal Rescue in Littleton, N.H., and River side Rescue in Lunenburg where their President, Sharon Eaton, caught wind of the idea and was thrilled.
"I think its an awesome idea," said Eaton, "anything that anybody can do to help in our cause, I cant wait to see these toys that are being made."
Decater and his friends made their first delivery at Riverside Rescue a few days after the project, where the cats pounced at the chance to play with their new toys.
Eaton was amazed at how successful the project was and plans to continue it in the future.