A sweet picture drawn by a child being helped through CASA for Kids East Texas is displayed at their new building along with a mural done by a local artist. For the month of July, CASA is teaming up with the Tyler Animal Shelter to collect backpacks and school supplies in lieu of pet adoption fees.

Tyler Animal Control Supervisor Mary Fowler, who has been at the Tyler Animal Shelter for 17 years, has been volunteering at CASA for Kids East Texas for nearly three years in different fundraising capacities.

She recently asked what the greatest need at CASA was and the answer was immediate — backpacks and school supplies.

That is when Fowler sprung into action, forming a partnership between the Tyler Animal Shelter and CASA for Kids East Texas.

For the month of July, all adoption fees will be waived when a prospective fur family donates a backpack with at least five school supply items to the shelter, located at 4218 Chandler Highway in Tyler.

“It was on my heart to do this, and fortunately, I have the means and support to do so through the animal shelter,” Fowler said.

The standard adoption fee for dogs is $120 and $80 for cats, which include adopted animals being spayed or neutered, microchipped, and vaccinated.

CASA Director of Community Relations and Development Katherine Elliott said the agency was able to help 734 children in 2020, a number that increased by 100 from 2019.

Elliott emphasized the difficulties many families face when the back-to-school time comes around.

“When children are removed from their homes due to abuse and neglect, they rarely are able to take much with them. They typically change schools as well. Many are placed in kinship homes with relatives on fixed incomes who weren’t prepared financially for a child or children,” Elliott said. “The need for a backpack and school supplies is great.”

Fowler said the shelter was dedicated to servicing the community and this felt like a perfect way to give back.

“It’s a win-win situation. A homeless animal finds a forever family and a young child receives needed supplies that might not otherwise be available to them,” Fowler said. “If we have the ability to get out into our community, help children in need and find a home for our animals, why not do it.”

Fowler hopes this will become an annual event that will continue the partnership throughout the upcoming years.

Elliott said for children in these situations, getting a cool new backpack can be a very bright light in a dim situation.

“You have these kids being removed from their homes through no fault of their own. It’s a scary time,” Elliott said. “If we can send them to school with the supplies they need and a new backpack, all the things that most other kids have, we are able to provide them some sense of normalcy during a very difficult time.”

CASA for Kids East Texas serves children in the Smith, Wood and Van Zandt counties. Requested supplies to be included in backpacks are yellow Post-It notes, crayons, earbuds, folders with pockets or brads, index cards, manilla paper, notebooks, notebook paper, #2 pencils and pens.

For more information regarding adoption or donating a backpack and school supplies, call 903-535-0045.