Sixth-grader's SIX LEG 5K to benefit adoption center
The Texarkana Animal Care and Adoption Center will benefit from a young girl's desire to help animals.
Shelby Dunphy-Day, an 11-year-old sixth-grader at College Hill Middle School, has planned a fundraiser to benefit the animal shelter.
The Six Leg Fun Run & 5K will begin at 2 p.m. Jan. 31 at the Front Festival Plaza.
The race will be run through downtown Texarkana and is designed to be completed with a four-legged friend if people would like.
There are a variety of activities planned for race day, including bounce houses, train rides, a pet costume contest, a pet photographer and more.
"Please help me help the animals at the animal shelter. This race is going to be a fantastic event but it's not only about running the race, it's about helping all those animals who are waiting for a home," Shelby said on a video on her Website, sixlegfunrun.com.
The funds raised at the event are much-needed at the animal shelter.
"I would use the money to help improve operations out here, keep fixing things and keep getting medicine for the animals," said Charles Lokey, director of the animal shelter. "We always need cleaning supplies, bedding and stuff like that."
Lokey is impressed with Shelby's commitment to help the animals.
"She's come down and helped me with things before. She is just a little dynamo. This was an idea she came up with at the beginning of the school year. It started out as a class project, but it could turn into something that's will be done every year," Lokey said.
On her Website Shelby wrote, "I have always loved helping animals, volunteering my time in the community and working with my community leaders in Texarkana. This started as a brainstorm for a project to take to the 2016 E.A.S.T. Leadership Conference. As I researched, gathered information and support, I came up with an idea that benefits the Animal Care & Adoption Center, promotes Downtown Texarkana and encourages volunteerism. I realized this should be an annual event."
Shelby is speaking with potential sponsors and handling the many aspects of organizing the event on her own. The immense amount of work she's put into it makes her mom, Kacy Dunphy, proud.
"Shelby is a communicator, thinker, caring, open-minded, risk taker and independent. Her self-confidence and tenacity amazes me daily. The initiative and imagination Shelby shows has always been beyond her years. I love that girl's heart and she fills mine with pride and joy," Kacy said.
Registration is $30 for the 5K and $15 for the fun run/walk. To sign up, visit at sixlegfunrun.com. For more information, visit the Facebook page Six Leg Fun Run 5k- Texarkana, Ark.
