Caring kids send gifts to Kuwaiti Kitties from the USA

Herndon, VA – Dozens of handmade catnip toys have been created and donated to homeless cats at the PAWS-Kuwait animal shelter, thanks to a project dubbed “Operation Happy Sock.” United States Girl Scout Troop 6388 collected unwanted, clean socks from friends and family members and converted them into catnip toys by stuffing them with catnip and fibrefill. Usually, Operation Happy Sock participants donate their catnip toys to local animal shelters to shelters in the U.S., but in this case the Brownies of Troop 6388 chose to ship their creations to the PAWS shelter, from Fairfax Virginia to faraway Kuwait.
“It was really easy and simple to do. Almost everyone seems to have unwanted socks, and they’re happy to put them to good use”, says troop leader Marci Hoyt. “Making the Happy Socks was lots of fun for the girls.”
“Homeless cats deserve a little fun,” adds fellow troop leader Cheryl Marcey, “but we know that many animal shelters have no budget for buying toys for the pets. When we heard about the PAWS shelter in Kuwait, we thought they especially deserving.” 
Protecting Animal Welfare Society, is an all-volunteer organization that cares for injured, lost and abandoned animals in Kuwait. The group, established in late 2003, went to great lengths to fund and set up Kuwait’s first officially licensed animal shelter. PAWS celebrate the shelter’s first anniversary this month. The cattery is always at capacity, with a waiting list of deserving cats ever present. Many of PAWS rescued cats have special needs, and they seemed especially deserving of a batch of handmade Happy Socks.
According to PAWS-Kuwait spokesperson Barbara O’Neill, “We are so happy to receive this shipment of Happy Socks from the Brownie troop in Virginia. Currently we are caring for many cats and kittens in our shelter or through foster placement -- all were rescued from high risk situations. Now each and every one of our cats and kittens will have their own comforting Happy Sock to play with.”
Adds Girl Scout Troop leader Marci Hoyt, “We thought that it would be nice to send our troop’s Happy Socks to a special group of kitties who were least likely to ever have them. The girls learned that the PAWS-Kuwait shelter is a special place that takes excellent care of sick dogs and cats, but just doesn’t have money to spend on toys.” 
The “Happy Socks” program was founded by Martha Powers of Fairfax, Virginia, in 2004 expressly for the purpose of creating and delivering catnip toys to shelter cats. She comments: “People like knowing that their unwanted socks are being recycled in a special way, of course. But for the cats, catnip toys are more than mere playthings. Stressed-out cats stuck in strange surroundings often find a whiff of catnip to be very therapeutic. A big, fluffy Happy Sock can be the feline equivalent of a cuddly teddy bear. No one ever makes a penny from Operation Happy Sock, but lots of people find a great way to recycle unwanted socks while helping homeless cats. Hundreds of children in the United States visit their local animal shelters to give Happy Socks to cats, and to learn the importance of spaying and neutering their pets.” PAWS volunteers aim to continue Operation Happy Socks in Kuwait, when their ‘Humane Education’ outreach program resumes in the new school year.
Thanks to the support of Troop 6388 and hundreds of Girl Scout troops around the country, Operation Happy Sock is now a nationwide activity in the U.S. An estimated 400 Girl Scout troops will be undertaking Operation Happy Sock in their communities during 2006, and over 30,000 homeless cats will be much happier as a result. This week, the American youngsters’ efforts made Kuwait’s rescued shelter cats very happy indeed!

For information about Operation Happy Sock, please visit www.operationhappysock.com or to find out more about PAWS shelter go to www.paws-kuwait.org Email: pawsq8@yahoo.com or Tel: 9440089
Photos show PAWS volunteers distributing Happy Socks to our rescued shelter cats in PAWS cattery, Kuwait.