12-year-old Riley Valentine had a special wish at the top of his birthday list—helping animals in need. Instead of waiting on his own birthday gifts, he waited in anticipation for pet food donations and soon, his helpful birthday dream came true!
Cape Town, South Africa (04 October 2023) — Another trip around the sun for 12-year-old Riley Valentine meant a lot more than what many would consider a typical tween birthday celebration. For this young animal hero, his birthday meant another opportunity to do good for animals in his community, as he exchanged what would have been his own birthday gifts for a big gift for animals in need.
Riley’s birthday dream was fulfilled last week Friday when he gifted bags of pet food to the Animal Welfare Society of South Africa in Philippi, who couldn’t have been more grateful for the contribution. This was the result of his Cause-for-Paws drive where he asked friends and family for only one special gift—food for the animal cause.
Even more heartwarmingly, Riley’s birthday pet food drive is not novel. He’s gotten into quite a groove of giving back over his young years, and at the age of ten, he made a record birthday pet food donation with over 30 ‘birthday gifts’ for the Animal Welfare Society.
His parents expressed their great pride in Riley’s determination to make a positive impact so young, with his mom, Veronica Valentine sharing:
“Riley has loved dogs since before he could walk or speak and to see that passion still so evident today, is amazing to witness.”
Riley’s birthday gifts follow several other birthday heroes of all ages that we’ve had the pleasure of celebrating this year, including Dr Nicole Evans who dedicated her 50th to raising funds for Wilderness Search and Rescue (with massive success) and Greta Wilson whose birthday mission meant lots of laps to fundraise for township dogs.
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