TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- The Humane Society and the ABC (Alabama Builds Champions) Mentoring Program will host an Adopt-a-Pet event on Saturday, April 24, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m at Pet Supplies Plus in the McFarland Plaza Shopping Center.

This event is being sponsored by the Humane Society and the ABC Mentoring Program, a partnership program between the Tuscaloosa County Board of Education, The University of Alabama, and the Tuscaloosa Family Resource Center. The ABC program teaches area youth the importance of empathy and life skill lessons. One of the goals of the mentoring program is to help children develop compassion for animals and extend that character strength to how they interact with others.

Adopt-a-Pet will give students from Matthews Elementary and Collins-Riverside Middle School along with their paired partners from UA the opportunity to help care for animals in need and those that will be adopted. This event is the culmination of all of the students and mentors hard work over the semester.