12.17.2024
Gateway Book Club: Teaching Compassion and Change
Sometimes, life gives us unexpected opportunities to make a difference — not just for ourselves, but for others, too. For Elizabeth, a dedicated Philadelphia-based teacher and animal lover, that opportunity came in the summer of 2011 when her scheduled class was canceled. Instead of viewing it as a setback, she embraced it as a chance to give back to a cause she cared about: helping animals at PAWS.
“For the first time in my life, as a student and as a teacher, I didn’t have a summer job,” Elizabeth shares. Encouraged by her partner, who knew about her love for cats, she decided to volunteer at the PAWS Old City Adoption Center.
“I was always looking in the window,” she says of the center she had admired from afar. That summer, she signed up for volunteer training, never imagining how deeply she’d fall in love — with the people, the animals, and the mission of PAWS. Volunteering became a summer tradition every year until 2020. Little did she know that her passion for PAWS would find its way into her classroom, inspiring not only her, but generations of students to take action.
As the advisor of the Gateway Regional High School Book Club, Elizabeth leads a community of over 50 students who bond over their shared love of reading. Since its founding in 2006, the club has hosted potluck lunches to debate favorite characters and taken literary trips to plays and museums. But Elizabeth always wanted to add a community service component to their activities.
“I believe when you have a group of like-minded people coming together, you can also use that group to do some good in the world,” she explains. In the summer of 2013, while volunteering at PAWS, inspiration struck. PAWS’ annual Mutt Strut was coming up, and Elizabeth realized it was the perfect opportunity to get her students involved.
“I asked Allison Lamond [PAWS’ Volunteer Program and Community Engagement Manager] how she would feel about me organizing a group of students to collect donations for PAWS. Their reward would be attending the Mutt Strut if we hit a certain fundraising goal.” Allison’s response was enthusiastic, and a new tradition was born.
Every year since, the Gateway Book Club has organized a student-run fundraising campaign. Students design collection boxes, decorate flyers with QR codes, and even feature PAWS pets — like Elizabeth’s own cat, Junebug—in videos for morning announcements. The campaign has become a beloved tradition, not just for Elizabeth, but for the entire school community.
“It’s completely student-run,” she says proudly. “Some of my club members are quite shy, but they still go out there for the cause, and when they come back with donations, they are so proud. They’re amazed by how generous our community is, and I am too.”
Every year, the students set a goal to raise $500 — and every year, they more than double it. Their reward? A day at the Mutt Strut, PAWS’ signature event and Philadelphia’s largest pet-related fall festival and dog walk. For many, the event becomes an unforgettable experience.
The Gateway Book Club attends the Mutt Strut
“There are so many favorite memories,” Elizabeth recalls. One year, the PAWS team handed her group a puppy who had just been spayed and needed to be carried for the Mutt Strut. “Twenty teenagers squealed with delight,” she laughs. “We took turns carrying her the whole time!”
But one story stands out above the rest. A few years ago, the Book Club walked a dog named Hank. One of the students bonded so deeply with him that she begged her mom to meet him. “It’s happened before — a student falling in love with a dog and pleading with their family — but it never worked out,” Elizabeth explains. “This time, though, the whole family came to meet Hank. They ended up adopting him!”
That student was Ann Heidelberg’s daughter. Ann not only adopted Hank, but later became a dedicated foster for PAWS. “It’s this perfect example of how doing good can connect you to others who also want to do good,” Elizabeth says.
Elizabeth and her students visit PAWS’ Old City Adoption Center to play with adoptable cats
Elizabeth hopes that events like the Mutt Strut teach her students the power of community and the importance of creating change—even in small ways.
“Gateway is a Title 1 school, so some of my students are facing difficult circumstances in their lives. I want them to see that despite those challenges, you can still do good in the world,” she shares. “Everyone wants to change the world, but that kind of massive change takes time. In the meantime, you can create small changes — like raising enough money to feed one animal. That small change will mean a whole lot for that single being.”
Elizabeth’s love for animals also finds its way into her classroom. Every January, she invites students to contribute to a bulletin board titled “Feeling Stressed? Look at Your Pets!” Students and teachers share photos of their pets, creating a warm and welcoming space where everyone can connect.
“We talk about where our animals came from, if they were rescues, how we care for them, and how they enrich our lives,” she says. “It really brings the kids together.”
At home, Elizabeth and her husband share their lives with Junebug, a 17-year-old cat adopted from PAWS in 2015. “She was a solitary senior who couldn’t live with other cats,” Elizabeth explains. “She had been in PAWS’ care for seven months, but as soon as we met her, we knew she was our girl.” Now, Junebug reigns as queen of the castle, greeting them at the door, chirping for pets, and curling up to listen to records with them at night. “We can’t imagine our lives without her,” Elizabeth says.
For Elizabeth, supporting PAWS is about showing her students — and herself — that change starts with small, intentional actions.
“It’s a lot like teaching,” she reflects. “Movies always depict teachers as massively transformative superheroes. But teaching is really about the small things you do every day to help kids on their journey. It’s the same with PAWS. Each small action — each dollar raised, each pet cared for — makes a big difference.”
Thanks to Elizabeth and the Gateway Book Club, students are learning that they, too, can make a difference — one small act of compassion at a time.