Barks for Books: Unique shelter experience
Cache Humane Society is offering the public an opportunity to interact with their adoptable animals through reading with their Barks & Books event. The next one will be on Feb. 21 at 5 p.m.
Barks & Books, hosted every other week from 5-6 p.m., allows the public to read a book to dogs and cats at the shelter and participate in a book swap. Participants are asked for a $5 monetary or material donation.
Elizabeth Taramasso, assistant dog staff manager and volunteer outreach education event coordinator, said the idea for the event came from her love of reading.
“Reading is super beneficial to everyone, and I wanted to offer something like that with our dogs and cats,” Taramasso said. “We decided to do this event not only to get more foot traffic here in the shelter but also to create a fun, unique way to get involved with the shelter in a way that is very relaxed.”
Volunteer Emily Jones said they want the event to help people feel more comfortable visiting the shelter.
“This event makes our shelter feel like a more open, friendly environment,” Jones said. “You can just come in, give a donation and then be able to sit and read with the animals there.”
Brooklyn Strickland, administrative manager, said the event allows the public to interact with the animals in a different way than usual.
“This event allows you to come and sit and look at the adoptable animals rather than just walking through. It creates great exposure for these animals,” Strickland said.
Taramasso said the event is an excellent opportunity for low-pressure interactions with the animals.
“This event is a great way for people to come in and see the dogs and cats without having to commit to adopting or fostering them. You can just come hang out and read to them for an hour,” Taramasso said.
Jones said these interactions help the animals become more comfortable with people.
“There is no pressure put on the animals to interact with the people who come in. They can just sit while someone reads to them,” Jones said.
Jones said one of their goals for the event is to boost community involvement with the shelter.
“We want to give people more opportunity to come here to the shelter to see the animals that we have that are adoptable,” Jones said. “It also is nice to get donations and stuff like that, since we are a nonprofit and depend on the support of the community.”
Donations to Cache Humane Society can be made online at cachehumane.org/donate or in person at the shelter.