By Pamela McLoughlin
Register Staff
MILFORD — Dog lovers Dee Seiffer and her daughter, Christa Coryea, 17, have gone in little over a year from volunteer dog walkers at the city’s animal shelter to fundraisers extraordinaire for the shelter’s building fund.
The two recently spearheaded a "Pennies for Pups" drive in local schools and, within a month, they had collected $1,524.77 from nine city schools. Seiffer said that while some city schools chose not to participate, others went all out. At East Shore Middle School, students and staff paid 50 cents to wear a hat; at Calf Pen Meadow School a fifth-grade class ran a schoolwide pajama day, raising over $500. At Foran, Coryea, a junior there, ran a penny war. Some schools just put out jars and let the spare change drop.
"Even a first-grader can feel like they’re doing something by bringing in a handful of pennies," Seiffer said. "It was wonderful to see how enthusiastic the kids got."
Recently Retired Animal Control Officer Pat Liptak said she thinks the volunteers did "an absolutely fabulous" job in raising a lot of money in a short time.
Liptak said the shelter volunteers are the best. The money will go toward building an infirmary and more storage area for the pet food bank that provides food for the pets of senior citizens in need of help.
Coryea said she believes the drive was so successful becacause people can really get enthusiastic about animals. She said dogs are open, social and genuine in their love, and always "happy to see you."
"I think I’ll always have pets," she said.
Seiffer, who has four other children — all of them in college — said volunteering at the shelter with Coryea has been a great mother/daughter activity.
"We’re two dog fanatics," she said.