Emma Karber, who grew up on a local farm, has always had a soft spot for animals. So when she had an idea to help local pets in need – a pet supply drive where Ferndale School District families and staff could donate – she jumped into action.

“This was an easy way for me to show my love for animals,” Karber, a junior at Ferndale High School, said.

What Karber didn’t expect was the runaway success of the drive. After setting up donation boxes at many Ferndale School District buildings, she wound up with about 400 pounds of pet food after just five days.

“Honestly, I had really low expectations – sometimes, you just don’t have the time to donate and that’s perfectly fine, and we only had a week,” Karber said. “So seeing all the stuff was just amazing.”

In particular, Custer Elementary School families really chipped in, donating almost 150 pounds of goods.

“Going to Custer and seeing that big box overfilled was amazing,” she said. “That was one of the best moments of this drive.”

Jessica Markowicz, one of Custer’s administrative assistants, helped to quickly spread the word about the pet supply drive amongst the Cougar community.

“I think Custer is just a great community, and everybody comes together all the time for everything,” she said. “Once they saw there was a need for pet supplies … well, it’s just kind of what we do out here.”

Running this pet supply drive had some complications – namely, transporting the donation boxes. Karber and her dad built them so big that they needed a horse trailer to deliver them to school buildings.

By the end of the drive, Karber donated all of the supplies to the Whatcom Humane Society. Alaina Rhodes, a representative from the Bellingham non-profit organization, called Karber’s actions “really inspiring.” All of the donated food will go towards feeding animals in the shelter and to families with low incomes who have difficulty feeding their pets, she said.

“The fact that one student could make such a big difference and donate 400 pounds of food to our shelter is truly nothing short of incredible,” Rhodes said. “We should all aspire to make a positive wave in our community.”