New Hall hosted “Snuggle Season”, an animal shelter donation drive, Thursday, Jan. 26, supplying students with materials to weave blankets and toys for animals in Conway shelters. 

As students trickled into the New Hall lounge for the event, they were given the choice to either cut fleece to make small knot blankets or use yarn and fabric to make cat toys. These creations were added to a donation box along with treats, toys and towels students had brought prior. At one point, a curious canine resident of the hall even coaxed its owner to make a brief pit stop at the event.

Alexsis Byrd, lead resident assistant for the event and a senior anthropology major, said, “This is the time where this is what animals are wanting, they are wanting that snuggly feeling and we are here to make blankets and everything for them.” 

As the owner of two rescues who are “the most loving dogs in the entire world,” Byrd said it breaks her heart to think of animals who are in need during the cold season. 

“This is the time kids have gotten a pet for Christmas and they’ve had it for about a month and that joy sometimes is gone. Personally, for me, that just breaks my heart. I know if shelters are full, people will just leave animals places,” Byrd said.

Byrd said she hopes students will walk away from the event knowing “they did something beneficial and that they were able to give a lonely or sad animal something that they can enjoy and something that can make them feel loved.”

Hannah Winters, a senior anthropology and history major, said, “I have a lot of empathy for animals. I grew up on a farm. It’s nice to just do something for them even if it’s small.”

Winters also praised the event for not being as stressful as she thought it may be, and that it was nice just to participate and socialize. Winters said that she thinks UCA should partner with more animal shelters in the future, suggesting that bringing the animals to campus may be an option to increase interest and participation. 

Byrd said her biggest difficulty in planning the drive was getting participants. Because New Hall has such a large upperclassmen population, she said it is hard to get students to take a break from their busy schedules to attend.

While Byrd did not have a set donation goal in mind, she said she was just happy to be able to make some sort of contribution. Once all donations are received, she plans to assess the donations so they can be divided equally between the Conway shelters so nobody is left out.

While New Hall has done canned food drives in the past to offer nonperishables and toiletries to residents and members of the community in need, Byrd said that this was the first time that she had heard of them doing a pet drive and she hopes to see more collaboration in the future.  

For those who missed the “Snuggle Season” event but still wish to make last-minute donations to the drive, the New Hall donation box will stay up until January 31st. Those who do not live in New Hall who wish to donate can either contact the RA staff through [email protected] or they can leave their donation with a member of their own housing staff.