In this dog-eat-dog world, Massillon-based business owner Pamela Parsons is a breath of fresh air.
For starters, Pamela — known for her good deeds on behalf of the poor — doesn’t mind doing what others may view as unpleasant or dirty work.
In fact, the more, the merrier, she’s quick to say.
After all, Pamela’s startup business is paying off in big dividends, for people she’s never met and have absolutely no clue about her.
Sara Hill said her daughter came up with the idea for her business when she had trouble sleeping one night.
“She was in tears, telling me she felt bad for the children who don’t have anything.”
The 7-year-old had just days earlier been involved in a fundraiser for the poor in her first-grade class.
Instead of bringing in loose change, as was encouraged, Pamela brought in her piggy bank with her entire life’s savings — almost $80 — which she donated without regret.
But even that wasn’t enough to satisfy the enterprising little girl’s yearning to do more.
So, with her family’s blessings, she started PPS: Pamela’s POOP Scoop, a one-girl operation that has her cleaning up dog poop for donations.
Armed with the tools of her trade — plastic gloves, a special shovel with claws and a large plastic bucket — Pamela walked back and forth across a client’s front and backyard, lawn-mower style, looking for what she’s come to regard as treasure.
“I got the idea watching Disney,” she said, “from other kids starting businesses and doing stuff to help out.”
Grandmother Lena Parsons of Clinton couldn’t be prouder of her granddaughter’s entrepreneurial talents. “The fliers she made up are just beautiful!” Parsons said.
Given that she has a dog (Lillie, a sheltie) and knows what cleanup entails, Pamela said she decided this was “something a kid could do.”
So she recruited her mother to help.
Pamela made up the flier on her own. “She drew a picture of a tree with a little dog doing his business and a girl with a shovel and the caption, ‘Did your dog go potty in the yard. Well call Pamelas Pooper Skooper Bisnis!!,’ ” her mother said, showing off the artwork.
Mom — who acts as PPS’ secretary-treasurer-chauffeur, handling the money, arranging her daughter’s appointments and taking her there — enhanced the fliers with her daughter’s permission:
“(Pamela’s POOP Scoop)
“My name is Pamela, I’m 7 years old. I have started a poop scooping business to earn money for local needy families! All donations earned will be given in a cash donation to the Massillon Family Living Center! Please contact me for your appointment. Donations only.”
The pink fliers have been circulated among family, friends and her family’s business acquaintances, Hill said. Her first appointment was on July 14. That’s when she made her first $10.
“They had three dogs,” Pamela said of the lovely load left for her to remove. “It was two little dogs and one big one.”
Pamela thought the donation from the dogs’ owners was fair. “It didn’t gross me out or nothing,” she said of the dogs’ donations.
And in just over two weeks, Pamela has earned $218 for the poor.
Included are donations from someone with a cat whose litter box she emptied, $20 from great-grandmother Marilyn Harmon of Navarre (who doesn’t have a dog) and $10 from a fireman who had her picking up trash around the Brewster Fire Department.
Pamela plans to operate her business at least until the start of the school year.
“Once Pamela decided what she wanted to do, we started looking around for an organization for her donation,” her mother said.
Since the Massillon center, which provides shelter for homeless families, had just reopened, daughter and mother decided it would be an appropriate beneficiary.
“We want everyone to know that Pamela is working in good faith and that all the money she collects is going to the Massillon Family Living Center,” her mother repeated several times, with her daughter nodding her approval. “We don’t want people thinking she used the money to go to Cedar Point or something.
“So I’m keeping track [in a notebook] of everything, who donates what. And we’ll be sending a letter to each of them giving accountability. We want people to know that she met her goal.”
Actually, Pamela’s already exceeded her goal of $200. But she’s not about to take off the plastic gloves just yet. She’s already thinking about what else she can do to help those less fortunate.
That’s not to say that Pamela is not enjoying her summer. When she’s not out scooping, she’s playing with her little sister, 15-month-old Reinna Hill. Her other recreational outlets include softball, horseback riding and jazz dance.
“She has a very big heart! She always has,” Hill said. “What mom could turn down helping with her child’s big ideas?”
Especially when they’re so good and the cause is so noble?
And what better way to nurture the seed to grow our next generation of volunteers?
Jewell Cardwell can be reached at 330-996-3567 or emailed at jcardwell@thebeaconjournal.com.