Senior Project Seeks Help for Maui’s Neglected Animals

King Kekaulike High School senior Kiara Kimizuka spent the weekend at The Pet Shop in Kahului, collecting donations and raising awareness for needed items at the Maui Humane Society.

Shown here are (from left): Jerleen Bryant, Kiara Kimizuka and John Guard III.

Kimizuka sought the help of The Pet Shop to host the donation drive, seeking canned pet food, cash and other pet items for Maui’s neglected animals.

For those that missed the donation drive, The Pet Shop will continue to donate canned pet foot to the Maui Humane Society for every purchase of dry pet food until Aug. 31, 2017.

“We have been a part of the Maui community for the last 44 years and are always happy to help students like Kiara when we have a chance,” said John Guard III, owner of The Pet Shop. “In fact, so many of our employees are students or young people just starting out, that we feel it’s important to encourage them when we can. We are also happy that we can support the Maui Humane Society and their important mission of caring for Maui’s neglected animals.”

Kimizuka, who volunteers for the Maui Humane Society, will also be doing a research paper as part of her senior project.

“We appreciate Kiara’s efforts to collect donations to benefit the Maui Humane Society. We also applaud The Pet Shop for supporting her efforts and for their matching donation. It takes a village to care for Maui’s homeless animals and we are grateful for the help that we receive from our community,” said Jerleen Bryant, chief executive officer of the Maui Humane Society.

Maui Humane Society is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, serving the community for over 60 years and is Maui’s only open admission shelter. Each year the Maui Humane Society helps thousands of animals, taking in over 6,300 animals to the shelter and serving many times that number through community outreach programs.