6. Donate Time and Food to the Animal Shelter

Animal shelters care for between 6 and 8 million dogs and cats every year in the United States.⁵ This is a large amount of needy animals, many that won’t receive proper attention because there aren’t enough resources available.

Take a moment to help some of God’s most loving creatures. Begin by calling your local animal shelter. Find out what types of food the shelter needs—bags of dry dog food, cans of cat food, and so on. Ask if your family can bring food to the shelter.

Take a peek inside an animal shelter, and you’ll find it’s evident many of these animals would love some attention, if only for a short time. Your family may choose instead (or in addition to a food donation) to assist in walking the dogs one day a week for a month or on a one-time basis.

Why not offer to start an adoption drive for the animals in your local shelter? Ask the staff of the shelter if your family can make and display posters and flyers regarding the adoption drive. Use the artistic skills of family members to draw profiles of the dogs and cats available for adoption. Or if there’s a budding photographer in the family, enlist his or her talents to take photos of the animals waiting for a home. Another idea is to have the computer whiz in your family create flyers on the computer. Take a family walk through town to distribute the flyers. In this way your entire family can be involved in pairing pets with new owners.

Up for Discussion

Why do you think God put us in charge of the animals? How do you think He would want us to care for pets that have no home? Do you make sure your pet it is fed and has enough water and exercise? Why?

Take a minute to think about the moment when God asked Adam to name each of the creatures He made. Can you imagine Adam’s amazement when he saw the different varieties of animals? Try to name some of the especially unique animals that attest to God’s incredible imagination.

The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.

—Isa. 11:6