For his 13th birthday, William Barisic, ’19, did something a little different. Instead of receiving gifts, he decided to ask for donations instead.

His sisters wanted to give him a birthday party, but since his dad, Barry, died in August, the idea was to celebrate despite the family’s struggle. The girls wanted to make the day stand out with a theme of dress up and make believe, Oct. 28.

Since the Barisics are an animal-loving family and have adopted five or six dogs over the years, William decided to instruct his seventh grade class to make a donation of supplies to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).

“I wanted to really help the pets over at the SPCA, so I had some friends help me donate to them,” William said. “I received over $500 worth of food and supplies from my classmates to bring to the SPCA for their animals.”

The next day, the family loaded up over 150 pounds of dry dog food, containers of cat litter, treats and canned food into the Barisic’s Yukon SUV that his classmates gave as birthday gifts. The staff at the SPCA was overwhelmed and took photos, later posted it on their website.

William’s friends at the SPCA heard about his wish to help them and the director of the Fresno office promoted William to be their Junior Spokesperson.

“I was surprised,” William said. “I didn’t think what I did was that important. I didn’t think an organization would pay attention to what we did. But I guess they did.”

William’s mother, Rebekah, was very proud to see what her son did. She expects a major future for him.

“I was very delighted and proud that my son would do this,” Rebekah said. “The people were so surprised and amazed at how much was being donated and what he did.”

Rebekah’s brother, Bruce, has a friend that works for the SPCA that knew William. He got in contact with William and brought him over to the SPCA where the workers could not believe the thoughtfulness from a 13-year old.

“The SPCA heard about William’s deed and wanted to recognize him by offering him several tickets for family and friends to the Monster X Truck Tour event at the SaveMart Center, Jan. 18,” Rebekah said. “He was given a special tour of the SPCA and was onsite for the media event Monster X Trucks held at the SPCA a few days before the event. He also was given a ride on one of the Monster X trucks and invited to their Pit Party.”

During the Monster X Trucks event, William received an opportunity to talk to people and ride the truck. Despite how large the trucks were and the roughness of the dirt tracks, William enjoyed the opportunity. The trucks flew as high as 15 feet in the air.

“I got to talk to talk to a couple of the drivers of Monster X trucks,” William said. “One of them brought a truck to the SPCA there, so I got to go for a ride in one of them and that was really cool.”

William had to climb up a ladder to get to get inside the 12-person truck. So he invited some friends to ride around at the Save Mart arena.

“One of the weird things were that the Monster X truck’s tire’s were taller than me and it was even louder than a semi-truck,” William said. “But overall, I had a really fun time.”

One of William’s friends, Reece Trevino, ’19, attended the Monster X Truck event and thought it was cool to go see some of the trucks up close.

“The event was really fun, and you get to see things you really don’t see,” Trevino said. “It was really cool that William helps be a part of the community.”

Ronnie Peterson, ’19, is another friend that attended the monster truck event. He thought that Barisic did a generous thing at the SPCA

“The monster truck event was really cool,” Peterson said. “I thought it was cool for William to donate all that stuff.”

William was quick to suggest that he would do this kind of volunteerism again and wanted to get others involved.

“I think folks like the SPCA need help from others to survive,” William said. “They have a lot of trouble keeping up with the demand to feed the animals they have to take care of. Those animals are God’s creatures, and I think it is a good thing to help take care of them.”

If readers wish to make a donation, volunteer or adopt a pet with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), go to their web site or call the Fresno office at 559.233.7722. They can also be reached via Twitter: @CCSPCAFresno and through their Facebook page: Central.California.SPCA.

This writer can be reached via Twitter @mattgarza2017. Follow The Feather via Twitter: @thefeather.

For more features, read the Jan. 24 article, New illustrator takes on comics.