During Youth Awareness Week, Pueblo teens help spread PAWSitivity

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) -- During day four of Youth Awareness Week, high school students from Pueblo District 60 and District 70 competed in a friendly competition to see who could raise the most money for Paws for Life.

Thursday, residents had the chance to enjoy a day of carnival food and games. Members of the community also had the opportunity to buy tickets and dunk high school teachers or even their friends.

While Youth Awareness week is not over, the advisor for the event said the fundraising part is.

Below are the three schools that raised the most money to go towards Paws for Life.

1. East High School raised $800
2. Pueblo West High School raised $500
3. Central High School raised $400

The advisor of the event told KRDO that the fundraising event raised around $5,000 for Paws for life.

The president of Paws for Life, Isabel Fransua-Erickson, said the money would be used for animal medical supplies.

She also hopes that the exposure will help get some of the animals adopted. They currently have 35 dogs and 25 cats that need to be adopted.

"This event is paw-sitively perfect. It includes all the youth in Pueblo that are coming together for the community and helping the community," said Isabel Fransua-Erickson.

Youth Awareness Week originated in Pueblo by Jesse Sena. Sena took the idea to the state and now it's Colorado Youth Awareness Week. He said he's working on making Youth Awareness week national.

"Now it's celebrated around the state. We did the kickoff in Denver on Monday of this week with a ribbon cutting. So it's celebrated throughout the state in Colorado," said Sena.

Sena told KRDO that he came up with the idea to help elevate the youth's voice.

"It's a week identifying the strengths and qualities of our youth and their contributions to the community and also look at some of the issues that are plaguing our youth," said Jesse Sena.

The last day of the youth awareness week is tomorrow. The theme is self-care day from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Pueblo Riverwalk.

The flyer below has more details: