{"id":16590,"date":"2026-04-02T00:35:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T00:35:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/?p=16590"},"modified":"2026-04-02T14:36:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T14:36:54","slug":"lending-a-helping-paw-auggies-project-volunteers-at-local-dog-shelter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/2026\/04\/02\/lending-a-helping-paw-auggies-project-volunteers-at-local-dog-shelter\/","title":{"rendered":"Lending a helping paw: Auggies Project volunteers at local dog shelter\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"dslc-theme-content\"><div id=\"dslc-theme-content-inner\">\n<p>By Maddie Summers &#8217;27, staff writer&nbsp;and Chris Timasonravichkit &#8217;27, video editor<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video aligncenter\"><video controls src=\"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/04\/Auggies-Project-La-Vie-Website-2.mp4\"><\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Since its&nbsp;inception&nbsp;in 2025, Auggies Project has been regularly volunteering with Davis Dog Farm, a local rescue organization.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>President Katelynn Hammel, a sophomore speech-language pathology major, founded the club last year with Vice President Dylan Knisely with the intent to spread awareness about adoption and volunteering.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOur goal was just to expand and get people more aware of the aspects of rescuing a shelter dog or any type of dog and getting LVC students involved in the therapy of cleaning, helping and volunteering,\u201d Hammel said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Knisely said that the club helps students feel connected to their furry friends, whom they may be missing back at home.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI feel like most people on campus have a pet at home that they miss,\u201d he said. \u201cThat&#8217;s part of the&nbsp;reason why&nbsp;Katelynn and I&nbsp;came up with&nbsp;the idea for&nbsp;Auggies&nbsp;Project. We just missed our dogs so much, and I know a lot of people feel the same way. There are a lot of dogs that walk around campus, but&nbsp;that&#8217;s&nbsp;pretty much it; there&nbsp;aren\u2019t&nbsp;any other clubs that do what we do.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During these events, the group works with other volunteers to clean the facility and take the dogs outside for some exercise.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cUsually, what we do is we\u2019ll come in, and we\u2019ll clean all the kennels, deep clean, so scrub everything down, wash their beds&nbsp;and&nbsp;replace things,\u201d Hammel said.&nbsp;\u201cThey&#8217;ll take the dogs out on their walks with other volunteers so they can come back to a clean reset area.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Brenda Beegle, the building manager, explained the history behind Davis Dog Farm&nbsp;and&nbsp;its mission.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cJenea Davis, the owner, has been fostering and working with rescues for 20 years,\u201d she said.&nbsp;\u201cShe has a love of&nbsp;animals,&nbsp;a real big&nbsp;passion. Five years ago, she started this rescue. She started in the house, and we transitioned from the house to the building a year ago.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Volunteer work is the lifeblood of Davis Dog Farm. They rely on participants to help take the dogs for walks, feed&nbsp;them&nbsp;and clean their kennels.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jenn, a volunteer who started with the organization last year, spoke about her favorite part of volunteering and what makes it all worthwhile.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cObviously, everyone&#8217;s favorite part is the dogs,\u201d she&nbsp;said.\u201dLoving&nbsp;the dogs, making&nbsp;sure&nbsp;they&#8217;re&nbsp;well taken care of, and getting&nbsp;a good home.&nbsp;It&#8217;s&nbsp;great for young people to see&nbsp;what&#8217;s&nbsp;being done in the community to help the animals.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hammel sees a bright future for the club and has&nbsp;hopes&nbsp;that its mission will continue long after she graduates.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI hope to continue the club beyond me and Dylan being here,\u201d she said.&nbsp;\u201cI would like to graduate, eventually come back, and see that people are not only remembering Auggie, but their own animals. I hope&nbsp;the volunteering,&nbsp;the awareness,&nbsp;the events&nbsp;and&nbsp;the donations&nbsp;can continue beyond when&nbsp;we&#8217;re&nbsp;here. That would be amazing,&nbsp;and&nbsp;that&#8217;s&nbsp;my goal.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Students interested in joining&nbsp;Auggies&nbsp;Project are encouraged to reach out to Katelynn Hammel or Dylan Knisely with questions.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you would like to learn more about Davis Dog Farm or are interested in becoming a volunteer, visit their website at<a href=\"https:\/\/davisdogfarm.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&nbsp;https:\/\/davisdogfarm.com\/<\/a>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>By Maddie Summers &#8217;27, staff writer&nbsp;and Chris Timasonravichkit &#8217;27, video editor Since its&nbsp;inception&nbsp;in 2025, Auggies Project has been regularly volunteering with Davis Dog Farm, a local rescue organization.&nbsp; President Katelynn Hammel, a sophomore speech-language pathology <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/2026\/04\/02\/lending-a-helping-paw-auggies-project-volunteers-at-local-dog-shelter\/\" title=\"Lending a helping paw: Auggies Project volunteers at local dog shelter\u00a0\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16590","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-video","6":"category-campus-news","7":"category-local-news","8":"post_format-post-format-video"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16590"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16630,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16590\/revisions\/16630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}