Students create city-wide volunteer opportunity for wildlife

GREEN BAY – What started as two students doing a volunteer project for class has turned into a multi-school community volunteer opportunity.

At Franklin Middle School, students were presented with ideas for a volunteer project due in December.

“We had a day in school where a bunch of different community services came into our gymnasium and we were taking notes about what it was, what they do, and we were most interested in animal control,” Genevieve Steffel, Franklin Middle School student, explained.

Genevieve and another Franklin Middle School student, Vladimir Muthig, decided to make toys for animals in need.

All the toys created will go to wildlife rescued by the local animal control, run by Matt Atkinson, the representative who came to the student’s school.

The students explained why they wanted to do this volunteer project in particular.

Genevieve said, “I really like animals and most of my pets have been rescued, two of them came from animal control. I was really interested in animal control and I wanted to help out.”

“I just like animals in general. Even the most deadly ones,” Vladimir continued.
With the help of Eowyn Steffel, Genevieve’s mother, and her business, Wonders by Women, the project began.

The supplies needed are jeans, fabric and helping hands.

Volunteers can make toys such as tug-of-war bones, cat dangles and more based on the volunteer’s experience.

Eowyn connected the students to the non-profit organization Thrivent Financial who gave them $250 for the supplies.

After gaining the money, the group decided to expand, “Well we have $250 for supplies, let’s just open it up for a lot of kids. Then we can make more,” Eowyn said.

Currently, three schools are directly volunteering to make the donations — Fort Howard Elementary School, Franklin Middle School and Green Bay West High School.

Volunteer Arabelle Steffel got Green Bay West involved through the Advancement Via Independent Development (AVID) program.

Fort Howard was connected through eight-year-old Anastasia Muthig, who will also be volunteering her time.

A side goal of this project is to raise awareness about the lack of resources animal control has to help wildlife in the area.

Eowyn said, “I’ve assumed that there’s dog catchers everywhere because that’s what I grew up with. Now I know that there’s not enough resources because it’s just one guy and another officer for all of the animals.”

Atkinson is one of only two animal control officers in the area.

He covers nine communities in Brown County and is also on the board for the Citizen Animal Response Team (CART).

CART responds to any wildlife or domestic animal calls and safely transports the animals to receive care.

Atkins explained, “The CART team is designed to back up animal control whenever I’m not available.”

They are operating 24/7 and 365 days of the year.

Genevieve responded to the lack of resources to help the animals saying, “It feels kind of unfair because I feel like animals should be more taken care of and thought of.”

Vladimir said his favorite part of the volunteer opportunity is relaxing and spending time with people and his favorite animal is a king cobra.

In the future, he would like to work on an animal rescue team.

Genevieve enjoys making the toys and helping the animals, her favorite animals are arctic fox and frogs.

Upcoming volunteer opportunities will take place Saturday, Nov. 1, from 12-3 p.m.; Saturday, Nov. 8, from 9 a.m.-12 p.m.; Saturday, Nov. 15, from 9 a.m.-12 p.m.; and Saturday, Nov. 29, from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. at Wonders by Women at 702 Mather Street, Green Bay.

For those who are unable to volunteer but would like to donate, there will be a monetary donation box at Wonders by Women as well.