DOUGLAS COUNTY, Ga. — A mother is instilling qualities of care and compassion in her young daughter, beginning with her birthday.
Melinda Cochran said she has always advocated volunteerism, and given her daughter's love of animals, thought her upcoming 5th birthday would be the perfect time to show her how easy it can be to give back.
“She wants to make sure homeless puppies and kittens get the care and treatments that they deserve,” Cochran said of daughter Allie, 4.
The Douglasville resident said her daughter is familiar with the idea of foster pets and animals without homes, and asked Allie how she felt about people giving gifts to animals instead of her for her Aug. 29 birthday.
“And she said ‘That’s great, let’s do it,” Cochran said. “She loved the idea.”
Cochran said she worked for a company in particular which had a big volunteerism culture.
“It always kind of stuck with me and I like my kids to do things with it as well,” she said. “It makes them better adults.”
Allie is the youngest to two older brothers, ages 12 and 19, who are also animal lovers.
“We’re kind of on a semi-farm. We have chickens and assorted wounded and found critters,” Cochran said.
And as for household pets? The family has a dog, cat, snake and lizard.
Cochran said she and her daughter frequent websites that feature foster pets, and that they have become part of a community that supports and follows the felines journeys online.
“We talk about how they are foster pets, how they don’t have homes, that many were found on the street, and so on,” she said. “Then they go on to a forever family. So she knows that there are people who take care of pets because pets are not being taken care of. It’s something she’s always been kind of exposed to.”
Cochran began to ask her friends on Facebook to donate to FurKids, Inc. in Allie’s honor, as a birthday present and means of paying it forward, earlier this month.
She said she has been surprised to find that people from her friends list, as well as total strangers in other countries like Sweden and Iceland, have already donated in Allie’s name.
“She gets so excited to see who’s donated and how we know them, if we know them,” she said.
The site shows a message without listing a dollar amount for the donations.
“Out of curiosity I’d love to know,” Cochran said. “For her, it’s the thrill to see that people have donated. She loves it.”
Cochran credits social media sites like Facebook with helping her spread the word about her daughter’s birthday wish and mission. She hopes it will be a lesson that stays with her in the long run, and said the moral of the story extends beyond foster homes and shelter walls.
“I want her to see what just one person can start,” she said. “Just to see what the actions of one person can really do.”
Allie and her mother will visit the animal shelter on Sunday to drop off food donations and take a tour, so she can see where her birthday gifts are going.
[ For the full list of donations, or to make a donation for Allie’s birthday, click here. ]