Making a difference is as simple as bringing a few people together over mutual passion. One of the newest clubs on campus hopes to use that passion in order to make an impact in the lives of animals.

The Club for Animal Rescue and Evolvement, known simply as C.A.R.E., further diversifies the clubs on campus by aspiring to educate the community about animal abuse and neglect.

Club founder, freshman, and aspiring veterinarian Madison Ramirez explains, “I wanted to have a club where we could help animals because I feel like that’s important…The C.A.R.E club is a club on how to help raise awareness for animal brutality. We are going to to go to shelters and volunteer there to help animals in need.”

The emergence of the C.A.R.E. club has long been anticipated. “We thought there was a club on-campus like this already and then we realized that there wasn’t when we went to join…there are a lot of other clubs on campus that are for volunteering and such but none that are specifically just for animals,” Vice president and freshman Paige Luedtke says, “I think that a lot of students have a love and passion for animals and I want to help them get more involved.”

World History teacher John Prothro was originally approached about sponsoring the club. Although he made the decision to pass the sponsorship on to science teacher Billie Fortune due to her experience with animals, he remarked, “There was some enthusiastic ladies who have a real care for animals and thought that our Perry community could do something to help that cause and the care for animals.”

The founders of C.A.R.E. aim to have members serving at least 1-2 times per month at an animal shelter, which helps students gain volunteer hours. In addition, they are planning on reaching a goal of $200 by the end of the year to go towards various organizations like the Animal Welfare League & SPCA that are in desperate need of supplies.

Throughout the year, Fortune hopes that C.A.R.E. is able to plan drives for food, toys, and beds to be donated for the cause.

“All these groups are volunteers and we all run on a shoestring budget, usually in the red, we’re always begging for money,” Fortune elaborated, “So, any help that we could get would be awesome.”

Starting out small, C.A.R.E. has big plans for the future: with high hopes to expand beyond shelters and into ranches and other means of housing different animals, the club is taking its first steps into making a lasting impression on the community.