At times it was hard to tell who was more excited, the children or shelter dog, “Deacon,” during School Street Elementary School’s donation of supplies to the McKean County S.P.C.A.

The third-grade students’ large donation of food, blankets and other supplies to the shelter was picked up at the school Thursday by S.P.C.A. executive director, Chris Taylor and cat supervisor, Molly Slater. They were accompanied by “Deacon,” a neutered beagle/terrier mix that is available for adoption.

“They brought a ton of stuff,” Taylor said while glancing at food and supplies piled on carts and stacked along a wall of the cafeteria. “This is my third year of coming down and collecting and it gets bigger every year.”

Taylor said the school’s annual collection is a huge help to the shelter.

“We get paper towels, treats, toys, dog and cat food which we desperately need because we have 145 cats and about 43 dogs,” Taylor said. “We can always use donations, we never turn them down.”

Taylor said another thing the shelter needs is people who want to adopt animals and give them a forever home.

“I would love for everybody to put us out of business, wouldn’t that be nice,” Taylor said of her wish for a community that had no stray, homeless animals.

She said the shelter is open from noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, and will even be open until 2 p.m. Christmas Eve.

“I’ve gotten several animals for myself on Christmas Eve,” she shared.

Third-grade lead teacher, Rebecca Ward, said the students decided to bring in items for the shelter instead of doing a student gift exchange.

“They brought in at least 500 items,” Ward said of the 200 students’ donations for the shelter.

“There were towels, laundry detergent and even a 40 pound bag of cat food” among other donations, Ward summarized. “Mrs. (Richille) Denora’s class also made three different kinds of pumpkin treats for dogs. They made them in the class and baked them in the cafeteria.”

Principal Sarah Tingley said she believes the school and the district have conducted the project for at least 20 years.

“There are a lot of kids with very generous families who support this endeavor,” Tingley said, while noting the students were thoughtful to give up their gift exchange.

“They still get a lot of treats and stuff because we don’t want to deprive them.” Tingley added.

For more information on the shelter, located at 80 Glenwood Ave. in Bradford, call 362-8850.