'Katie's Kibbles'

COEUR d'ALENE - Katie Weppner does chores around her home, but there's no pay involved.

And that's fine with the 9-year-old.

"If I learn to get money while I'm working, I won't know how to do it without getting money," she said without hesitation.

Did a kid just say that?

Don't be surprised when it comes to this particular fourth-grader.

She's the same girl who wants to be a scientist, volunteers at Ironman, spends her own money to buy cots for a homeless shelter, and especially worries about all animals, big and small.

It explains why the soft-spoken student is at the St. Vincent de Paul H.E.L.P. Center most afternoons, filling plastic bags with cat and dog food and setting them in boxes near the reception area. She wants to be sure the homeless and needy can feed their animals.

People with little money will often give their own food to their dogs and cats, Katie explained, so she wants to provide pet food for them. Free.

"So they don't feed all their proteins to their dogs because they need the protein for them so they can stay alive," she said. "Nobody really loves them, but their pets love them," she continued, "and they have someone to love."

Katie has her own workspace at the center on Harrison Avenue, where her mom Karen Lindbergh is the manager. You can usually find her sitting on the floor in a cubicle space, preparing dry cat and dog for those who need it.

Many do.

"They come in and ask for Katie's Kibbles," said Wanda Golding, receptionist.

Katie's Kibbles is now the name for the program after its youthful founder. There's even an account at St. Vincent's for donations. A $100 gift last week was the first from outside St. Vincent's walls as word spreads of what Katie does and has been doing for the past year, even chipping in her own money.

Giving, Katie explains, "is something we do with our faith." She uses 10 percent of her money, sometimes more, for "something good, a good deed."

"She has a heart of compassion from the ground up," said her mother.

Due to life's circumstances, she said Katie has "had to see things through different eyes and see people through different eyes all her life.

"When she sees people here, she doesn't judge them by their circumstances. She sees people who have needs," Lindbergh said. "She doesn't see their circumstances of homelessness. She has no fear of that. She just sees the need."

Maggie Kemp, Katie's fourth-grade teacher at Winton Elementary, called her "extraordinary."

Katie is a top student and in accelerated learning program. Beyond academics, Katie is giving, compassionate and always willing to help others.

"She does things above and beyond her grade level," Kemp said.

Katie shrugs her shoulders when asked what led her to start Katie's Kibbles.

"I just felt like it," she said.

Katie grew up on a Cougar Gulch farm that included chickens, horses, pigs, geese and sheep. It was there she developed a deep love for critters of all kinds. She now lives in Coeur d'Alene and has a dog, chinchilla and snake at home.

The more time she spent at the center with mom, the more she saw a need to help the poor feed their pets.

"My mom could work for the people and I could work for the dogs," she said, smiling.

When she first came up with her idea, she pitched it to her mom.

Great idea, her mother thought.

"A lot of people think when they see a homeless person with an animal, they think the animal is being abused or neglected," she said. "The truth of the matter is, the homeless person cares far more for the animal, their companion, than they care for themselves. So they'll sacrifice a great deal for the well being of the animal."

Katie even approached Jeff Conroy, St. Vincent's executive director, with a business plan and asked for her own cubicle space. Turns out, she didn't need it. But you can usually find her at the center, from around 4 to 5 p.m. most weekdays, bagging food, writing thank you cards to donors, until mom gets off work.

"I was thinking of getting my own office and office hours, but I'm sometimes gone a lot and I have school," she said.

"She found that clients couldn't come during the hours when she was available so she decided to make it available all the time," her mom said.

Neither Karen or Katie is sure how much of their own money they've spent on pet food. They also doesn't know how many people pick up the sealed plastic bags at the center. Katie just knows when a box is close to empty, she refills it.

They do receive some help from St. Vincent's employees and clients who know of Katie and what she does.

"It's just been in-house," her mom said. "Now the community's found out she's doing it."

Donations to Katie's Kibbles can be made at the HELP Center, which is open 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Conroy said Katie is an inspiration.

"We are always hoping the younger generations will step up and be the next to help those in our community," he said. "Katie is one who saw a need, loves animals, and has a empathetic heart. I am very proud of Katie and the work she has done. She is an angel in a time when we need more angels."