Panama City teen donates truckloads of supplies to the Salty Cat Cafe for his birthday

PANAMA CITY, Fla. ( WMBB ) – For most teenagers, they may ask for a new phone or gaming console, or to go on vacation for their birthday.

However, one young man has decided he would rather give back to a local animal rescue.

Logan Hedricks is a 16-year-old who has always had a strong affinity for animals.

Growing up, he would go out of his way to volunteer at local animal rescues just to help out.

“I tend to just pick whatever one I feel needs the most help,” resident Logan Hedricks said.

This all started back in 2018, for his 10th birthday, instead of asking for gifts for himself, he asked for supplies for the Salty Cat Cafe animal rescue.

Six years later he still is hard at work collecting donations.

“I do this every year. I’ve done it for about six years now. Instead of getting presents for my birthday, I asked all my family members if there was a way to help with it. And I’ve been handling all the communications with other companies to sponsor it. So today is the official drop-off day where we get to give everything to all the kittens,” Logan Hedricks said.

Throughout the years Hendricks raises donations long before his birthday and accumulates as many supplies as possible before doing a big drop-off, usually in May.

He gets anything and everything that’s cat-related including food, litter, cleaning supplies, and of course some toys.

“We got a bunch of cat trees for them to climb on. We got a ton of toys. There’s a bunch of toys for all the kitties,” Logan Hedricks said.

On the drop-off day, with the help of his parents, they load up a U-Haul with all the supplies and make their way to the rescue.

His dad, James, said over the last six years Logan has racked up quite the tab.

“Every year I tell him, hey, man, you’ve done enough. You can be a kid if you want to just get an Xbox, like, we’ll get you an Xbox. But he insists every year that he would rather give back and especially give back to, like, the rescue community. He believes in that. So we calculated it up and he’s close to about $50,000 worth of things,” Logan’s dad James Hedricks said.

His parents said they’re just happy to support him.

“He’s done a great job, and we’re just here to unload all the stuff and let him do his thing today,” James Hedricks said.

Jackie Mihal, the founder and president of the Salty Cat Cafe says she’s never met anyone quite like Logan.

With over 300 cats she’s in charge of any little bit of help, and every year Logan’s donations get bigger and bigger.

“He is a very well-rounded young man. I am honored to have met him. I didn’t know him until he reached out to us and he has done this for six years and this is for his birthday. He’s not taking gifts. I’ve not met a more wonderful young man and his family has done a marvelous job raising him,” Salty Cat Cafe Founder and President Jackie Mihal said.

Logan said no matter where he’s living, he will continue to collect supplies for animal rescues.

To learn more about the Salty Cat Cafe, click here for their Facebook.

Click here for their website.

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