LEWISPORTE -
Seven-year-old Hannah Curlew loves animals and it shows.
For Hannah's birthday on Dec. 20, 2009 she decided to do something different for her birthday party - something that would help the animals she truly adores.
Instead of receiving presents from her guests, she instead requested a donation for the Exploits Valley Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).
"It basically came up in a discussion; how every year her birthday is so close to Christmas and you are going to have a party for her, you're not going to deprive her from celebrating her birthday," said Tammy Curlew, Hannah's mother. "I just commented that it's too bad that she couldn't still have her party, but not have so many presents and that's when she decided to ask for donations for the SPCA instead.
"We actually threw around a few ideas when we knew she wanted to donate to an organization, like the Children's Wish Foundation which I'm a volunteer for, but she decided on the SPCA."
Hannah received $350 from family and friends and anxiously waited for the day to deliver the funds to Shelia Baird, president of the Exploits Valley SPCA.
"It was really cool," said Hannah. "They were excited and my teacher was really proud of me. My friends mom even brought some cat food to my party, so we brought that in (to the SPCA) with us."
That was also Hannah's first visit to the SPCA. She thoroughly enjoyed seeing how her donation would make a difference.
"I love little animals," she said. "So, I wanted the money to go towards baby animals, to help feed them."
The Curlew's are no strangers to animals and have an eight-year-old golden retriever named Jake.
"We had Jake a year before Hannah was born, but they love each other," said Ms. Curlew. "He is all hers."
Both Ms. Curlew and her husband Paul were very proud that Hannah was un-wavering in her decision to donate her birthday money to such a worthwhile cause.
"I thought it was just wonderful," said Ms. Curlew. "We were so proud. We even sat her down before her party and made sure she was okay with it because she wasn't going to get gifts, but she stuck to it - which we think is just fantastic."
Hannah is currently featured on the Exploits Valley SPCA website under their Kindness Donations section at www.envision.ca/ webs/exploitsvalleyspca/.
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