Norwin student collects supplies for New Stanton animal shelter

An 11-year-old Norwin student who loves animals collected some 520 items — pet food, toys, blankets and cleaning supplies — through a drive he organized at his school and in the Norwin community.

Gauge Kloock, a sixth grade student at Hillcrest Intermediate School, partnered with the no-kill animal shelter Pet Adoption League of New Stanton on his initiative to help the dogs at the shelter with supplies such as dog collars, leashes, blankets and non-rawhide chew toys.

“They (Pet Adoption League) need many items to keep the dogs safe and happy until they find forever homes,” said Kloock, a North Huntingdon resident.

From the pet drive in late November and December, Kloock collected the items and received more than $50 in donations, said his mother, Kirstin Grus Kloock.

“The donation drive was a huge success,” Kirstin Grus Kloock said.

Gauge said he decided to help the Pet Adoption League after meeting Toni Younkin, director of organization, while volunteering with the Pet Prayer Blanket Group of Pittsburgh, an organization for which he has obtained hundreds of yards of donated fleece.

“He came to us with the idea. He put this whole thing together. He is a phenomenal young gentleman,” Younkin said.

It is an appropriate initiative for a youngster who has a Jack Russell terrier named Liesel, along with two white tree frogs that he has named Hogan and Little Man.

“I call him the ‘animal whisperer.’ He can get animals to listen,” Kirstin Grus Kloock said.

He got permission from Brian O’Neil, Hillcrest Intermediate School principal, to have a collection box in the school for students and staff to donate. He made the wooden box with assistance from his mother.

“My friends like it,” Gauge said.

“A lot of his friends are animal lovers also,” his mother added.

There were donation boxes at the First Student school bus terminal off Billott Avenue in North Huntingdon and the Fade Factory Barbershop at 11899 Route 30, North Huntingdon. Jars to collect money were placed at the Fade Factory Barbershop and the Sunoco convenience store at the intersection of Colonial Manor Road and Route 30.

Organizing a drive to help pets during the holiday season also helped Gauge deal with a difficult time. His father, Mark Kloock, an Army veteran, died at age 50 after open heart surgery in December 2016, Kirstin Grus Kloock said.

“This is a good time to do this,” she said.