Scout project aims to help needy elderly feed their pets

Martha Smith
Posted 4/9/15

At Bishop Hendricken High School, where athletic ability is highly prized, Anthony Denommee, a 16-year-old junior, might have been a basketball player – he’s certainly tall enough – but he …

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Scout project aims to help needy elderly feed their pets

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At Bishop Hendricken High School, where athletic ability is highly prized, Anthony Denommee, a 16-year-old junior, might have been a basketball player – he’s certainly tall enough – but he lacks bulk. Other sports didn’t interest him either.

Denommee’s true calling was to Boy Scouts, and he threw himself into it with his whole heart. From the age of six when he became a Cub Scout through advancement to Boy Scouts at 11, he’s marched steadily on. Along the way, he earned between 40 and 50 badges. Now as a member of Troop 2, Natick, he’s poised to attain the highest honor of all, the rank of Eagle Scout.

In choosing a project to reach this lofty goal, he has become a knight in shining armor to the state’s senior citizens living on the slim margin who find themselves no longer able to provide for their pets. While longstanding studies have shown that pet ownership benefits the elderly by reducing blood pressure and providing a cure for loneliness, more recent reports are alarming.

It has been documented by the national Meals on Wheels program that when seniors can’t afford pet food they’re sharing their own nourishment. In the saddest circumstances they’re forced to give their animals up.

Marlene LeRoy, director of Meals on Wheels Rhode Island, says, “When a client is in need of pet food they let the volunteer know.” Once alerted to the emergency, the Meals on Wheels driver picks up the food at headquarters and delivers it next time.

LeRoy adds that the pet food program is carried out through Kent Hospital, where it started in 2009.

“Kent collects for us with their Food Four Paws program. If we’re running low or are out of pet food, we call them and they come through for us,” LeRoy said.

Jody Jencks, director of workforce development for Care New England, the umbrella health care system that includes Kent, is the former director of volunteer services.

“I’ve been working with Anthony from the beginning,” she said. “He came to me last year and was talking about an Eagle Scout project. He wanted to do something in conjunction with Kent, where he has been a volunteer in the cardiology department. His passion for working with the elderly and pets” came together in the perfect fit.

She adds that his project has had “an overwhelming response. He’s received all sorts of praise. It was an opportunity for Anthony to do all the legwork and show himself to be a real go-getter. To be able to work with him has been great. I’m so proud of Anthony.”

He’s already picked up 1,000 pounds of food and plans to keep collecting through April, when he anticipates he’ll have at least 1,500 pounds. He’s still awaiting the arrival of large orders that have been donated by Walmart, National Pet Center in Cranston and Pet Supply in Garden City.

Denommee’s bins are located at all the branches of Centreville Bank; Our Lady of Good Council, Sacred Heart, St. Anthony, St. Joseph Church and Elementary School, all in West Warwick; the Kent County YMCA; Stop & Shop; Bone Appetite in East Greenwich; Rumford Aquarium; Kent Hospital and Bishop Hendricken.

“It’s been a long road,” he says of his collection project, which involves an all-hands-on-deck operation when it comes to picking up donations and taking them to a storage area at Sacred Heart Church. George White, his scoutmaster, Dave Tetreault, troop committee chairman and even his grandfather, Leonard Denommee, are all involved.

Anthony credits Tetreault with providing insight including how to overcome people who said no to his request. “The higher days were great and the lower days I had to give him a pep talk.” He believes the success of the project “might be beyond his expectation.”

It’s not too late to donate to Anthony Denommee’s Food Four Paws Eagle Scout project. Just look for the bins at any of the places mentioned above. You can reach Anthony by calling 828-6766.

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  • Justanidiot

    Oh my god, it's Soylent Alpo!!!!

    Friday, April 10, 2015 Report this