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Lilah Deal is a senior at Crisp County High School where she is an Honor Student, Varsity Cheerleader, tennis player and a member of the Beta Club. She has started a fundraiser for the Friends of Cordele Animal Shelter where she is collected donations for supplies that they need for the animals. Her reasoning for doing this fundraiser stems strongly from her strong love for animals that was built from her mama and sister always feeding or taking home animals that were hungry and homeless. These acts have instilled the same into Lilah and now she is doing the same. She says, “I can’t tell you how many stray animals we have rescued from parking lots, gas stations and even on vacation,” She also mentioned another reason for this fundraiser was, “I will be applying to colleges very soon and needed leadership experience. This past summer my mama and I reached out to several people, local clubs, and organizations for leadership opportunities with no luck. So, I had the idea to start and run a fundraiser of my own!” She is a huge animal lover and helping animals is big in her heart and with the local shelter always being full and in need of food and supplies, she thought it would be the perfect organization to try to help. “I would help something I am passionate about plus give me leadership experience. It’s a win, win for me.” Lilah had met with Brandi Akin who is over the shelter, to pass the idea by her. Brandi was all for it and told Lilah about the things that they needed most. Lilah created an amazon wish list full of the items and posted it on Facebook to share with the community.

Once she is finished with the fundraiser Lilah has plans and ideas for another one helping a different organization. As this is the first fundraiser that she has ever done, she has been surprised by the amount of people that have supported her in making it such a success. Family, friends and people she didn’t even know have been willing to help. She says, “It feels so good to make a difference and has been such a positive experience for me. I have learned so much and can’t wait to start another one.”

For anyone who would like to get involved or donate you can reach out to Lilah Deal on Facebook. “They can contact me by sending me a friend request, private message, or commenting on my posts.” If you are unable to send her a friend request or message because she is a minor they can contact her mom Michele Deal. You can find her posts all over Facebook on Lake Blackshear Community Page, Friends of Cordele Animal Shelter page and more! Lilah is also able to meet up with anyone local with donations of supplies. If you wish to purchase something off the amazon wish list scan the QR Code.

Lilah wants everyone even once her fundraiser is over to continue to donate to the shelter. There is always a need for cat and dog food and thin blankets for the beds. They are always full of animals and work so hard to get them adopted or rescued. You can drop off donations to the shelter anytime! Also, please consider getting your pets spayed and neutered to help in reducing the homeless pet population. Instead of buying consider adopting. The shelter is full of so many animals that deserve a loving home.