Brothers Give A Holiday Gift To Help Animals

At The Pound

By Kendra Bobowick

They heard about it during the annual Lions Club duck race in Sandy Hook’ they caught more conversations in church, and soon their parents were explaining the need for a new dog pound.

“We began to worry,” said Jack McDermott, 7. His brother Dylan, 5, sat beside him in the parlor as snow climbed the windowpanes where he gazed outside Sunday, December 21. Turning back to his brother, he nodded his head in agreement. Soon, Dylan was up the stairs and into his room gathering stuffed animals in his arms, and returning with his embrace barely circling the stuffed tails, legs, and snouts. Dylan sat beside the menagerie while he considered the time he and Jack had spent this past year earning money through chores — more than $300 this year. While the boys’ parents Patty and Dermot normally match what their sons collect for a charitable cause each year, they “helped a lot,” this time, said Ms McDermott.

The family contributed $3,000 and Ms McDermott’s employer, Bank of America, matched the amount. “I work for a very generous company!” she had said.

Snow fell, late afternoon light waned, and the boys slowly let slip pieces of their story. Not necessarily told in order, the moral, however, is a lesson Mr and Ms McDermott hope to teach their sons: “They learned about needs,” Ms McDermott said. Each year the family selects a charity project. “They have something to work for all year,” Ms McDermott explained. After Thanksgiving, they add up what they have saved.

Speaking up, Jack said, “We did a lot of chores.” His brother hid his face behind the stuffed animals, but muffled giggling made it into the room. And, Jack and Dylan like dogs. Soon they were naming dogs they knew. A neighbor with a labra-doodle, a bus driver with dogs, babysitters who owned pets, and the boys’ cats that roamed through the room or sat on the sill watching the birds pick seeds out of the snow.

Sick animals especially concerned them, and they spent the year’s money on a kennel space depicted in drawings of what a new pound will look like. The room they wish to sponsor is for animals that are not feeling well. Canine Advocates of Newtown (CAN), which raises funds to supply the pound with necessities, has in recent years also been campaigning for a new pound. With private funds and through town capital improvement appropriations, work is poised to begin.

CAN President Virginia Jess most recently received a set of architectural drawings for the new facility, making her visions clear for residents, including the McDermott brothers. They first saw what the new pound could be in past weeks during a fundraiser at Lexington Gardens. They also learned that one of the rooms would be for quarantine.

Dylan cupped a hand beside his mouth and whispered to Jack. The two traded glances and Dylan nodded, letting his brother know it was okay to tell his secret.

Jack said, “He wants a doctor to visit and sleep overnight.” Dylan also imagined a bed in the kennel with wheels, and a veterinarian to stay and keep an eye on the sick pups overnight. The boys also chose a room they felt would be quieter for the ailing animals, which might need their rest.

“Dogs are noisy,” Dylan said. “I hope it’s not too noisy.” They hoped sick animals would heal better in the soothing quiet.

Recently, Ms Jess offered a list of naming opportunities for specific rooms once she had the architect’s drawings in hand. By sponsoring the requested donation for a particular room, the contributor can have a nameplate placed on the door once the pound is built. A kennel is $5,000, and the sick room sponsored by the McDermotts is $6,000. The boys have asked that their two cats’ names be placed on the plaque, rather than their own.

Again a whispered conference between the two, and finally a glance at mom brought out another secret. Speaking for her sons, Ms McDermott explained that their grandmother, an artist, might paint a mural for their kennel.

As the season of giving yields to celebrations of a new year, Dermot and Patty McDermott looked at their boys surrounded by the opulence and beauty of a home decorated for the season and brimming with the promise of gifts to come. While visions of sugar plums danced in some children’s heads and others went to sleep Christmas Eve with the excitement of exchanging gifts in the morning, Dylan and Jack had already given their gift to the canine supporters, those needing a bigger, cleaner, better equipped dog pound, and animal lovers throughout Newtown.