Maybe it was a happenstance that Dallas Daughtry was riding by Sears the day the dogs were out.

Or perhaps it was just meant to be.

Either way, Dallas took it from there.

“I saw all those dogs that needed a home, and I wanted to do something to help them,” the Troy Elementary School second grader said.

“I told my mother that I wanted to help raise money for the Pike Animal Shelter. They are trying to raise enough money to build an animal shelter. I thought if I raised some money that would help them get it sooner. I feel sorry for dogs that are on the side of the road. I want them to be safe and find a new home.”

The idea struck a chord with Dallas’ mom, Renee, who believes that young people should learn the importance of giving something back to their communities.

“Dallas came and asked me if she could have a fundraiser for the animal shelter,” Renee said.

“I told her that she could if she did all of the work.”

Dallas agreed to do all the work and decided that a bake sale would be her best choice for a fundraiser.

“I made a list of all the people in my family that I thought would bake something and all of my friends,” Dallas said.

“I was going to bake something, too. Then, I wrote some of them and asked some of them to bake something for my sale and they said they would.”

When Renee heard about the Pike Animal Shelter’s upcoming Fur Fest, she suggested to her daughter that the event would be a good place to hold the bake sale she was planning.

“I thought that was a good idea because there would be a lot of people there and there would be dogs there that needed a home and those were the kind of dogs I wanted to help,” Dallas said.

The 40 or more people Dallas had asked to bake cakes, cookies and candy for the sale came through with flying colors.

On the day of Fur Fest, Nov. 14, Dallas had a variety of baked good and she contributed two monkey breads, two peach cobblers and 12 dozen cookies to the bake sale.

“Two of my friends, Regan and Coby Johnson, helped me sell and we all had a good time,” Dallas said. “Some people just gave us a donation and a lot of people bought things. Coby took cookies around to the people and everybody was nice and bought some.”

At day’s end, Dallas counted her dimes and dollars and the grand total for her benefit bake sale was $605.

“I was excited that we raised so much money for the animal shelter,” Dallas said.

“And, I want to thank everybody that helped me and everybody that bought something and everybody that made a donation. And my mama and grandmother for teaching me how to cook so I could do things like this.”

Donna Schubert, Pike Animal Shelter’s Society Founders chair, said she was very impressed with Dallas and those who worked with her to make the bake sale such a great success.

“Dallas puts her heart and soul into caring for animals,” Schubert said. “Because of her efforts, the animals in Pike County will benefit. And, I was also impressed by the fact that her mother is teaching her, at such an early age, how important it is to give something back to one’s community. Their caring and generosity really touched my heart.”