Sandpoint Christian students offering PAS a helping hand

SANDPOINT — Bare dirt in the spring, choked by weeds in the summer and a barren stretch of snow or mud in the winter.

Even the most generous might describe Panhandle Animal Shelter’s entrance as drab and uninviting.

At least until the 12-student gifted class at Sandpoint Christian School gets done with it.

“We want people to feel welcome when they come to the shelter,” student Brock Browning said.

The SCS students felt the shelter’s staff, pets and clients deserved better. When the class had to create and implement a community service project, it didn’t take long for the group to settle on PAS.

“We wanted to make a difference,” said  Browning.

At first, the students — who range in age from third to eighth grade — wanted to walk the dogs and play with the kittens to help socialize them. When they learned students had to be at least 13, discussion soon turned to the shelter’s entrance.

“We are doing this project as a service to the community so we can learn to give to others,” student Logan Compton said.

“We like to help,” added student Sunny Brown. “We’re having fun doing something good for the community.”

Since the year-long project started, the students have built the group from the ground up. First, they picked a name and decided which group they wanted to help. Next they had to decide what the service project would be, Compton said.

It had to be something everyone could do and everyone had to agree on it, he said.

Decisions, the trio said, had to be unanimous since  teamwork and consensus-building skills are part of the class.

The group also had to determine all the different elements of the project. Along the way, students met and talked with the Ponderay City Council, worked with Ponderay Planner Eric Brubaker, secured donations from local stores and nurseries — as well as Panhandle Animal Shelter.

The group was even able to secure the services of a landscape architect to make sure the project fit the site and would look good long-term, student Logan Compton said.

Students updated Ponderay City Council members on the project, winning rave reviews on the presentation and the project, said Hanset. The students even left with a $150 donation from the city.

The students and a corps of volunteers is slated to weed the site and clear away debris today — in preparation for Saturday’s landscaping project. While they’ve learned a lot and enjoyed creating the project from scratch, the trio said Saturday is when the “fun” part of the project takes place. That’s when all the students, parents, school officials and other volunteers will take what they’ve spent the year creating and turn it into reality.

“We want to show what kids like us can do,” Compton said.