Somebody (6 somebodys to be exact) is going to sleep good tonight

Mikey & Me’s foster dogs slept good Friday night.

That’s what happens when you receive overwhelming one-on-one attention and excitement from 9 Forsythe Middle School eighth graders for two straight hours before bedtime.

Forsythe teacher Margaret Raupp partnered with Anna’s Kindness Friday after school and brought the girls to Chelsea, where they helped Mikey & Me owner Dan DePew with a few chores and a lot of love for his six current residents: foster dogs that were rescued from potential euthanization. Dan houses the foster dogs in an old dairy barn just off I-94, and has over 20 volunteers who help him care for these rescued dogs every day. Dan spends a lot of his time promoting the dogs on his Facebook page, hoping to find them forever homes; in his first year operating Mikey & Me, he has found homes for over 55 dogs.

What made this Anna’s Kindness event even better, beyond the beautiful Friday afternoon weather, was that all of the girls Mrs. Raupp brought were dog lovers. Even eighth grader Sophie Motawi, who admitted she’s a little reluctant around overactive large dogs, was playing tug of war with Zeus before the day ended.

For Natalie Haft, who had volunteered at Mikey & Me during Anna’s Day of Kindness, Boomer the golden retriever with the warm heart and the tall hugs remained her favorite. Sophia Morgan, who worked with Natalie to organize the dog food pantry when she volunteered earlier in the month, teamed up with Natalie, Samantha Tower, Emily Nowak and others to help Dan bring jugs of water and dog blankets into the barn.

This was a return visit for Hayley Marchand as well, who spent a lot of time with Amos, her favorite. Donna, one of the Mikey & Me volunteers, shared stories with both Hayley and Jordan Hall on Amos’ bed as they visited.

Because Anna’s Kindness had volunteered at Mikey & Me just two weeks earlier, nearly all the dogs were still living in the foster facility. But one-on-one visits from interested adopting families were upcoming for nearly all the dogs, so the prospects for several of them to be checking out of their 10×10 bedroom and into a forever home were quite good.

In the meantime, the Mikey & Me dogs were enjoying the rock star attention they received Friday afternoon.

Sparky, the dog toy hoarder, was not satisfied with his 12 toys. As girls took him out of his ‘bedroom’ for a walk, Sparky saw it as an opportunity to grab another toy on his way out the door, whether from the plastic bin in the barn, or from another dog’s open kennel.

Once he got outside for his walk, he was a photogenic favorite.

“I liked Sparky because he didn’t pull as much,” said Samantha Towers. Everyone it seemed, and we do mean nearly everyone, got their photo with Sparky outside the barn on the beautiful spring afternoon.

Iris McNally spent time taking treats into cages in an effort to teach the residents a few basic commands, like ‘stay’ and ‘sit’. Iris would probably report that she had mild success, depending on the dog. Zeus seemed to be one the quickest learners. He followed commands for Hayley before the afternoon was over.

Each dog was walked multiple times by the girls on Dan’s large piece of property and, honestly, they may have continued to walk the dogs until the sun set. But, just as the dogs were barking up a storm upon the girls’ arrival, it was noticeably more quiet by the time the girls had finished, which was a sign:

The dogs were whupped.

Thank you to Dan (and volunteer Donna) for being such a gracious host for the girls, and for all he does to help find these dogs a forever home. And thank you to Forsythe’s Mrs. Raupp for helping bring the girls together for the volunteer opportunity.

If you’d like to keep up with Anna’s Kindness throughout the year, please ‘like’ Anna’s Kindness on Facebook or follow on Instagram. If interested in being added to our volunteer mailing list, email annaskindness@yahoo.com.

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