The Cougar Pet Pride Club at Long Cane Middle School has raised $461 for local dogs this school year, and students passed those funds onto the LaGrange-Troup County Humane Society on Wednesday.

CPP meets for 30 minutes every week on Fridays and began selling candy to raise funds for the dogs at the LaGrange-Troup County Humane Society earlier this year. The students all chose to be part of the club due to their love for animals, so starting a fundraiser for local dogs seemed like the obvious next step.

“It is based on their interests,” said Cindy Carothers, the club advisor. “A lot of people did art or music. Well, I wanted to do pets because I’m a dog person, so I have about 15 students in that little class. We meet once a week, and we decided that we wanted to do something to help the homeless animals at the animal shelter.”

The club sold candy and cookies for 50 cents each, and the donation is from the profits of the fundraiser. The students said they received a lot of support from other students at the school.

“Thank you Long Cane Cougars for purchasing items from Mrs. Carothers CPP, Cougar Pet Pride,” said Hudson Bailey, a student in the club. “As you can see, it has a tremendous impact even if it is just 50 cents. It all adds up. When school starts back in January, CPP will continue selling items to help the LaGrange Humane Society. We hope to have another donation on Valentine’s Day.”

The LaGrange-Troup County Humane Society is a nonprofit organization and donations are constantly needed to take care of the dogs.

“This money is enough for us to completely pre-vet two dogs at the humane society,” said Mandi Bono, the executive director of the humane society. “When I say pre-vet, what I mean is we are going to be able to get them spayed or neutered, get them rabies shots, all their vaccinations and their microchipping, so that they are ready to go home to their new families here in LaGrange.”

Bono said that she was proud of all of the hard work that the students did for the dogs at the humane society. All dogs adopted from the humane society are spayed or neutered, and donations like this one can also make it possible for the humane society to treat some dogs for heartworm.

The group hopes to be able to raise even more money for the humane society through additional fundraisers continuing through the end of the school year.

The Long Cane Middle School Girls’ Soccer Team plan to volunteer at the LaGrange-Troup County Humane Society’s Home for the Holidays adoption event on Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon at 1390 Orchard Hill Road. To learn more about the humane society, visit its Facebook page.