Save A Pet.

A club united for one goal.

Starting from nothing more than a Harambe joke, but based on a strong personal belief, one of the newest clubs on campus is off to a powerful start.

When asked what made him want to start the club, Manny Sanchez, sophomore, had very strong emotions and a very honest answer.

“My grandfather took people that didn’t have anywhere to go into his house to try to help give them a better life,” he said. Sanchez wondered “how can I be just like him”?

He knew he wanted to help his community in some way but wasn’t sure how to until one day, Harambe [the gorilla shot at the Cincinnati Zoo] came up in a conversation. Sanchez and some friends were joking around about starting a club to remember Harambe, soon after, he brought it up in his Interpersonal Relationships class and it grew from there.

“We had over 40 people at the first meeting,” Sanchez said. “The goal is to help animals because if we didn’t no one would.”

Once the club started, Sanchez discovered that all animal shelters in Arlington are lethal shelters, meaning that after one month of being at the shelter the animal will be put down. This disturbed Sanchez and though he can’t change that, he and the club can make the animals’ lives more comfortable.

Club members will make bandanas, blankets and beds to donate to the shelters and also to sell at community events. The money raised from those sales will be split between the club and the shelters.

Jamie Johansson, Sanchez’s Interpersonal Relationships teacher, had nothing but praise for the the club and for Sanchez’s leadership.

“Manny is just a true leader,” she said. “He was powerful and just had it really organized.”

Johansson says the important thing she wants the members to take away from this is to learn to work together for a common goal.

“I want this to be a neutral group of people who all love animals, are confident, and united,” Sanchez said.