WARWICK, R.I. (WJAR) – A 6-year-old Rhode Island boy with a passion for helping animals is doing all he can for them.
He is only in the first grade and started a “poop scooping” business.
In the backyard of a home in Warwick, 6-year-old Luca Arpin is ready to work.
With an unusual love for chores, the first grader appreciates all things tidy.
“It’s fun. I love cleaning. It’s like one of my favorite things,” Luca said.
That includes something that many of us find tedious – picking up pet poop.
“People hate picking up dog poop,” Luca said. “I don’t mind that. I don’t mind it at all.”
A few weeks ago, he started offering his removal services calling himself “Poopa Scoopa Luca.:
“$15 for one dog or $20 for multiple dogs,” he said.
“Luca just has a knack for reading animals,” Luca’s mom Robyn Bouchard said.
Bouchard works at a local animal shelter and to date, she and Luca have fostered and found homes for 98 four-legged friends.
“Volunteering is one of our core values in life,” she said.
Luca loves it there so much that he volunteers for all kinds of odd jobs.
“He is the first person to walk into the building, he’ll immediately start folding laundry. He’ll sweep and mop the floors, you know he’ll tell everybody, ‘I love my job, I love coming to work every day,’” Bouchard said.
But since his job at the shelter is unpaid, his hopes of adopting a cat and all the expenses that come with it were put on pause.
“He asked me, ‘What can I do to raise money and how can I raise money to adopt this kitten?’ Because he just felt like he couldn’t live without her,” Bouchard said.
That is when he made it his duty to take action and started his poop-scooping business.
“I have the coolest kid in the entire world honestly. To be so aware of the rescue crisis in the state and overall in the country I think that’s pretty unique,” Bouchard said.
Now, Pebble has a home.
Luca is looking for more work so that he can help other animals, too.
“A lot of the funds that Luca is willing to raise, looking to raise, he’s hoping to incorporate in helping save more animals in the future,” Bouchard said.
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