Sisters team up to save animals

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ANIMAL LOVERS — Madison, left, and younger sister Mallory sit with their Miniature Schnauzer Caleigh. The girls have started a club, Hearts for Helping, in an effort to reunite pets of any kind with their families or to find families that are willing to adopt. The girls' t-shirts say it all.

OXFORD — Sisters Madison and Mallory Gordon and a couple other friends have successfully formed a club to find newly adoptive homes for pets and to happily reunite pets of all kinds with their families.

Madison is 8, Mallory is 6.

Like most kids their age, the girls decided one day after school that they wanted to form a club. But the club, their mother told them, would have to have a purpose.

Lovers of animals, the girls decided they wanted to help animals find their way home. They decided they wanted nothing more than to make a difference in an animal's life.

"I like helping animals find a home," says Mallory. "Like pet animals!" Mallory says she "loves kitties."

"I met my friends at recess, and we started talking about a club," added Madison. "We came up with the idea because everybody in the club loves animals."

The girls have named their club Hearts for Helping —  a 100 percent nonprofit organization focused on helping animals in need in Maine. They've created their very own website: www.heartsforhelping.com, and a Facebook page: www.facebook.com/heartsforhelping.

According to their mother, Joni, different people – from neighbors to rescue agencies – are contacting the girls to have them post their pets' information on their sites. While it's been slow going, she suspects that through fundraising and constant advertising, the girls will begin to make more contacts.

"They've been dying to get some new pets in," said Joni. She says that a family friend who works for The Maine Lab Rescue, a local agency that will soon be getting a new batch of puppies from a kill shelter in Georgia intends to use the site. "She will be getting them a bunch of [ads] to post pretty soon," says Joni.

The girls are also in the beginning stages of planning fundraisers for The Maine Lab Rescue, says Joni, like a car wash and a bake sale. The girls said they've also been raising chickens that will be laying eggs in August, and that they plan to raise funds by selling the eggs.

"I could not be more proud of them and all they are learning such as the value of volunteerism, work ethic and the reinforcement of when they put their mind to something, it can be done," says Joni.

While Madison does a bulk of the work, like updating the website and making contacts, Mallory likes to help plan and do fundraising. After almost a year of planning, says Joni, the girls' dreams are finally coming to fruition.

"They started thinking about it, and talking about it," said Joni. "We just got the Facebook page going, but the website has been up for about a year." And during this time, she said the girls have already managed to find a home for one 10-week-old female kitten, after posting the ad on May 16.

"It makes us feel happy," says Madison.

The family's own cat, however, has been missing since May 8. A one-year-old black short-haired male called Pee Wee, who has a small patch of white under his chin, was last seen at 176 Rabbit Valley Road in Oxford.

He has been neutered and has a microchip. If you have any information regarding Pee Wee, please call Joni at 461-2226.

If you have a pet ready to be adopted or have lost or found a pet, please send a photo and as much information about your pet as possible to heartsforhelping@gmail.com. The kids will post your information to help find a wonderful family for your pet.

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LOST CAT —  Eight-year-old Madison Gordon holds Pee Wee, her one-year-old black short-haired male cat, who was last seen on May 8 at 176 Rabbit Valley Road in Oxford.