Dog food is needed for the De Queen, Ark., animal shelter and Ark-La-Tex Animal Rescue Center in Texarkana.
The project is sponsored by the University of Arkansas-Cossatot collegiate FFA, said Kellie Harris, FFA adviser.
"I happen to be friends with our local animal-control officer Mike Chandler, and he just recently took the position. In talking with him, he had mentioned how hard it was to take care of the animals with such a small budget," Harris said.
Harris also has a connection to Ark-La-Tex Animal Rescue.
"I asked him if he could accept donations, and the idea was born. I also happen to be friends with Whitney Stokes, who runs Ark-La-Tex Animal Rescue in Texarkana. She helped me adopt our dog earlier this year, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to help her out," Harris said.
FFA students are well-suited to help with this kind of project.
"Most of my students love animals, since they are in agriculture, and this project is a good fit with our program. It's something that my students care about," she said.
"This is an ongoing project. We gather up the donations on the last Friday of each month and get them distributed to our local shelter and the rescue in Texarkana. Our first delivery for the month of August provided about 15 bags of dry dog food to our local De Queen shelter and I was able to deliver a variety of items to Ark-La-Tex Animal Rescue, including toys, leashes, food and treats," Harris said.
Dog food can be donated at KDQN radio station in De Queen, and donations can be dropped off at any of the UA-Cossatot campuses, in De Queen, Nashville or Ashdown.