Read for Scruffy Elementary School Program

Ms. Sooley's third grade class in New Jersey

This program was created based on a donation from a third grade class in New Jersey.  A third grade girl brought a print out from the Feeding Pets of the Homeless website to her teacher.  The girl was very upset about the quality of life that the pets of the homeless must endure and asked if the class could raise money to help.

The teacher enlisted the aid of another class to start “Read for Rover”, a reading fundraiser that involved each student asking friends and neighbors to make a donation for every book the student read.  In a few short months, they sent a check for $165 to Feeding Pets of the Homeless with hopes that it would be put to use to help our furry friends.   

Reading is such an important part of education and encouraging children to read extra is paramount.  Children have a natural curiosity about the world around them.  Often they see unfortunate people and animals in their communities and need to acknowledge that some people have more than others and need help.  Our program encourages lessons on compassion and philanthropy through class discussions with the teacher.   Our program “Read for Scruffy” is quite simple.  Teachers print out a compelling photo(s) from our website and start the discussion with the class.  Maybe asking if they have seen a similar situation.  Ask the children how they would help that person.  Suggesting that they raise money that could help provide pet food, veterinary care and sleeping compartments to homeless shelters, the teacher would introduce “Read for Scruffy”.   Each child is given a flyer, provided by Pet of the Homeless, and a signup sheet. As part of the project, you might have a poster contest to help the students illustrate the need and we will post the winning poster on our website.

The teacher decides the duration of the project and when it is over a check or chec ks are mailed to Feeding Pets of the Homeless.  All donors will receive a thank you and tax receipt from the organization.

To join the nationwide program, use our contact form to send us the name of your school, teacher’s name and email address, the mailing address along with the grade or class, and we will send you flyers to help you get started and we’ll email you a sample of a pledge form. 

We’ll be adding a special page on our website to list the schools and classes that are participating as well as a class photo.  

To eliminate any connection and confusion to an existing program called “Read With Rover”, we selected to name our program “Read For Scruffy”.
Download our "Read For Scruffy" flyer PDF.