Boy spends days in cold to help animals in shelter

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Folks are getting into the Christmas spirit and giving back this holiday season, but there are some volunteers that you may not expect to see.

Twelve-year-old Ari Garsh is spending his Christmas break collecting supplies for animals in the Pender County Animal Shelter.

Since he was seven years old, Ari says he felt the need to help animals. Usually, he would spend his own Christmas money to buy food to donate. This year, he decided to get the community involved.

For the last couple days, Ari has been standing outside of the Pine Grove Road Lowes Foods in Wilmington, spreading his mission and collecting pet food. He says everyone should help as much as they can.

“If you think about it, (the shelter doesn’t) really have that much supplies, and they have a limited amount of money and most of the dogs have to sleep on concrete, and they don’t get as much to eat as they are supposed to,” he said. “So, they’re asking for volunteers, like me, to collect donations for them, so what I’m doing is collecting food and blankets for the shelter.”

Ari says he has always had a love for animals, which is why he thinks it’s so important for everyone to help. He says there are never too many donations.

If you want to help Ari, he plans to stay outside the store all week collecting donations, unless it gets too cold.