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Alex Walker
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Sebe Christian
JASPER, Tenn. — The 45 dogs at the Paws of Love Dog Sanctuary in Marion County know Sebe Christian as a playmate but they know little of the 11-year-old’s campaign to keep them fed.
“I started by going to look at this dog shelter .... and I knew that they were running low on dog food,” said Sebe, a sixth-grader at Jasper Middle School.
“I decided to take action about it,” he said. “I just wanted to give the dogs a second chance at life.”
Sebe said he and his friend Alex Walker have spent the last several weeks collecting dog food from their fellow students.
Alex, 11, said her mother donated a large supply of food, and she hopes other people follow suit.
“I’m saving up a lot of money so I can bring in a little more dog food,” said Alex.
School guidance counselor Land St. Clair said the canine food drive stirred the children’s interest because, unlike humans, the dogs have no one to speak for them.
“As long as I can remember, we’ve always had canned food drives for humans,” Ms. St. Clair said. “We decided we would do a dog food drive.”
The nonprofit, private sanctuary was rebuilt after a previous operation there known as the Perry Link Memorial Humane Society was shut down in 2005. But the owner died a little more than over a year ago and Sebe’s grandmother, Cindy Christian, and other volunteers have struggled to keep the shelter operating.
Mrs. Christian said she didn’t know about her grandson’s campaign until food started coming in.
“One day a couple of months ago he (came) to the house to show me a little spiral notebook; he’d put ‘Donations to Dog Shelter’ on it. He had a couple of names,” Mrs. Christian said. “We were a bit taken aback when they called and said they had all this food for us.”
Sebe and Alex said they and their families plan to volunteer at the shelter this summer.
“It would be nice if other people would help out, too,” Alex said.
Sebe said he does “whatever needs done” when he’s at the shelter with his family.
“If the dogs need somebody to play with, we go out there and play with them. If they need food, we try to start up something to get some food to them,” he said.
He wants people to help the dogs and give them homes, he said.
“I’m not doing this just because I want to be in the newspaper. It’s because I want to help save the dogs,” he said.
HOW TO HELP
To find out more about how to help the Paws of Love Dog Sanctuary, call Cindy Christian at (423) 837-0263.
Ben Benton is a news reporter at the Chattanooga Times Free Press. He covers Southeast Tennessee and previously covered North Georgia education. Ben has worked at the Times Free Press since November 2005, first covering Bledsoe and Sequatchie counties and later adding Marion, Grundy and other counties in the northern and western edges of the region to his coverage. He was born and raised in Cleveland, Tenn., a graduate of Bradley Central High School. Benton ...
