By Caitlyn Meisner | Staff Writer
Kappa Phi Gamma hosted two dogs from the Humane Society of Central Texas on Thursday to help with the recent overflow of dogs at the shelter.
The sorority held its second of four philanthropy events this semester at Fountain Mall, bringing shelter dogs to campus for students to pet and de-stress.
Plano senior and Kappa Phi Gamma president Ritz Battula said this is the first time the sorority has hosted an event like this, and they knew it would be mutually beneficial.
“It’s something close and dear to all of our hearts because [the shelter] here in Waco is a no-kill shelter,” Battula said. “They’re always looking for people to foster and adopt, so it’d be a great opportunity to raise money for our philanthropy and also bring awareness for the Humane Society.”
According to Irving sophomore and Kappa Phi Gamma philanthropy chair Saniya Agrawal, the sorority donated all the proceeds to its philanthropy, Bringing Hope Home — a local nonprofit that provides families battling cancer with financial and emotional support.
Denver sophomore Matthew Pagoria attended the event with friends after he saw Kappa Phi Gamma post on Instagram. He said he’s not able to get a dog at the moment, but he misses his dog from home and wanted to relieve some stress.
Agrawal said the event served its purpose of making the Humane Society more accessible to Baylor students and hopefully facilitating some adoptions. The dogs at the event, Zoe and Spider, were available to adopt at the event.
“They bring them on campus so that college students who are looking to adopt a dog, like, this is easier,” Agrawal said. “You don’t have to go out and do the hunting on your own.”
Agrawal said the event was not only to raise awareness but also to bring the pet-human connection back to college students who miss their pets from home. She said it’s good to connect a local shelter like the Humane Society to Baylor students.
“I know there’s some private shelters, but the Humane Society is a great no-kill shelter that’s very local and very close by to campus,” Agrawal said. “Just building that connection and having that network here on campus is what we were going for.”
Battula said Kappa Phi Gamma approached the Humane Society to collaborate on an event, and they were very receptive.
“We do know that they always want to have people foster and adopt so they can keep their status of being a no-kill shelter,” Battula said. “They were very open to it.”
Mike Gray, community outreach manager at the Humane Society, said it was good for the dogs in the shelter to socialize outside of the shelter.
“We [have] close to 200 dogs right now at the shelter, so it’s kind of hard for them all to get time out of the shelter, get some fresh air and get to get loved on by people,” Gray said. “It’s always a good opportunity to come up here to Baylor. So many of our volunteers are students, and some of them foster for us.”
Gray said last week was stressful because it was the closest the Humane Society has come to euthanizing dogs in his four years there.
“A lot of people came out and got 64 dogs either adopted or into foster care last Thursday,” Gray said. “Without Baylor [student] support, we probably would’ve lost quite a few dogs last week.”
Gray also said Baylor students are more than welcome to volunteer, even if they can’t foster or adopt a dog right now.
“You can always volunteer and hang out with the dogs or do events like this,” Gray said. “You can check a dog out for a day. There’s a lot of cool options that you have that could turn into fostering a dog or your friend fostering a dog.”
