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Pat Auckerman/Staff photographer
Koda, a 5 month-old Newfoundland mix, seems curious as he watches his owner Chelsea Rice, 18, a member of Girl Scout Troop 40559 of western Ohio, make a cut in a blanket she is making as she works toward her Gold Award at her Fairfield Twp. home Thursday Jan. 21, 2010. Her project includes making blankets to be sold to raise money for the Animal Friends Humane Society in Trenton.
Fairfield teen serious about service
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Updated 1:55 PM Monday, January 25, 2010
Editor’s note; This is part of a continuing series on local kids who make a difference in their communities.
By Josh Sweigart
Staff Writer
FAIRFIELD TWP. — Between her work ethic and natural persuasiveness, Chelsea Rice has a promising future in politics.
Rice wants to work for the United Nations some day. But for now, the high school senior is content to go to school, take college classes, work two jobs and donate hours to the local animal shelter.
Rice raised money to buy a $630 storage shed from Home Depot and is having it erected near the Animal Friends Humane Society shelter.
Animal Friends Director Meg Stephenson told Rice that storage space was what they really needed when the 18-year-old asked what project she could do to secure the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest honor in scouting.
To pay for the shed, Rice made fleece blankets, and stuffed the leftover fabric with catnip to make cat toys. She made dog treats out of rice and baby food, and sold it all at Bark Fest in September.
“These fit perfectly in the kennel there,” she said, holding up a red blanket decorated with pawprints. “When they get puppies and stuff, for all of them to cuddle on.”
That’s when Koda chimed in. The frenetic, fast-growing Newfoundland mix puppy began licking, sniffing and jostling for a tummy rub.
Koda was adopted at Bark Fest, though Rice’s father resisted even looking at the dogs up for adoption.
“My dad was like, ‘I don’t want to go in there. I’m not going in there,’ ” Rice said. “He was like, ‘We’re not getting another dog.’ ”
He relented, after Rice talked him into holding the dog while she fired off facts about Newfies — how they are used as rescue dogs, for instance.
“I’m a good salesperson,” she confided.
‘Mature beyond her years’
On Halloween, when most kids were going door-to-door with their trick-or-treat bags, Rice was pulling a wagon.
“What she’s asking for is canned goods for the hungry,” said neighbor Nancy Bender. “This is something she did for a number of years; she’s mature beyond her years.”
Rice, now 18 and preparing to graduate from Fairfield High School, lives for community service. Her footware: purchased because the manufacturer donates shoes to Third World countries.
So when Bender, a volunteer at Animal Friends Humane Society, heard that the new shelter on Princeton Road was in desperate need of volunteers, she knew who to approach.
“They were all on board immediately,” Bender said of Rice and her friends. “While they were standing in (my) driveway, they immediately started brainstorming ways to help the shelter.”
When the weather improves, Rice hopes to erect a needed storage shed at the shelter; she raised $630 to purchase it by selling homemade blankets, cat toys and dog treats.
When that’s done, she will mulch a dog-walking path around the shelter and put up benches.
Fairfield-based Ernst Concrete donated the materials for a foundation for the shed, and a local man named Nick Wagers offered to pour it for her.
“She has a way of drawing people in and getting things done,” said her mother, Heidi. Whether it was pushing Girl Scout cookies or recruiting volunteers, Chelsea Rice has always been persuasive.
An example of this was when Rice was running behind on making blankets to sell at Bark Fest. Luckily, she also needed a “how-to” speech for her speech class.
“I did ‘How to make fleece blankets,’” she remembered, laughing. “Everyone tied one blanket for me.”
Rice said it was her involvement in Girl Scouts that inspired her. The shed project for the animal shelter is part of earning the coveted Gold Award, the highest honor in scouting.
“(Scouting) is probably the underlying thing ... that got me involved in volunteering and stuff,” she said.
She stuck with it since first grade, even when other kids saw it as uncool. It led her to more fun activities than she can count, many of which were also good for the community.
Plus, she added, it looks good on a college application.
Rice is taking classes at Miami University while she finishes high school. She wants to major in political science, then join the Peace Corps after getting her degree and before going to work for the United Nations.
“To make things better in the world, you have to make better friends with your neighbors,” she said.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2175 or jsweigart@coxohio.com.
Chelsea Rice
Age: 18
School: Fairfield High School, Miami University
Years in Girl Scouts: 12
Money raised for animal shelter: $630 so far
Part-time jobs held: Two
Plans after college: Peace Corps, then United Nations
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2:26 PM, 1/25/2010
1:50 PM, 1/25/2010
She is a role model for students and of course to teenagers. Great job for that!
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4:42 AM, 1/25/2010