H.O.P.E. Club volunteered at a bunny rescue shelter in the City of Hawthorne on Sat, Nov. 9, from 10:00 a.m. until 12:30 p.m.

Club members dedicated their Saturday morning to helping out a bunny rescue shelter owned by the nonprofit organization, Pet Save Foundation. There were 90 bunnies on site and all had a spacious amount of living space. The small group of volunteers divided and cleaned different sections of the bunny crates and, although the work was tedious and messy, the students had no problem dealing with the furry critters.

“I was extremely exited to work with the rabbits because I have one myself,” board member Ricardo Vargas said.

For senior Elle Neri, who is the H.O.P.E. Club president, being a member and taking part in weekend events provides her with a sense of responsibility.

“Taking a morning out of my weekend isn’t bad,” Neria said,“ it’s something I want to do, I’m not forced to do it.”

The board members decide on events for the club to partake in by searching on L.A. Works, a website aimed entirely to volunteer work.  The event is chosen primarily by how many volunteers the event is accepting. The vice president, senior Yasmin Alvizures, decided on the event because she thought working with bunnies would be interesting.

“I chose the bunny rescue as an event because I liked how events are usually with cats or dogs and this one was with bunnies,” Alvizures said.

Employee Jay-Jay Jones has been working for the Pet Save Foundation six days a week since October of 2009. Jones began working for pet save at their previous location in San Pedro and became engrossed in everything the foundation was striving toward.

“When you work with Animals, you can’t take a day off,” Jones said.

H.O.P.E. Club is a community service club dedicated to volunteer work and helping other people. The club has changed advisers in the past year but has not let the change hinder them in any way. Although the heavier tasks lie on the board members, they are still dedicated to helping other people everywhere.