Swampscott Boy Collecting Birthday 'Gifts' for Local Animal Rescue

AJ Kluge is turning 10 on June 17, but he isn’t the one who’s going to benefit from the gifts his friends bring to his party.

The beneficiaries of Kluge’s birthday gifts are decidedly furrier and have four feet.

For the third year in a row, Kluge is asking his birthday party guests to donate to a charity of his choosing instead of bringing the birthday boy a new toy or game. This year’s charity of choice is Sweet Paws, an Essex animal shelter with a unique dog adoption program.

Sweet Paws offers a “Foster to Adopt” program that allows a potential adoptive family to foster the dog in their home for two weeks prior to finalizing the adoption. This allows the family to learn whether the dog is a good fit, and it’s a program that the Kluges wish they had known about several years ago when they attempted to adopt a dog.

Heidi Kluge, AJ’s mother, said the family rescued a dog from a shelter only to find out the dog wasn’t good with children when it bit a young girl. The dog had to go back to the shelter and the Kluge family was heartbroken. At that point, Heidi Kluge began searching for a way to get to know a rescue dog before committing to the adoption, and an Internet search led her to Sweet Paws.

“I wanted to find the right dog next time,” Kluge said.

AJ Kluge, though young when the failed dog adoption occurred, remembers that event and wanted to support Sweet Paws with his birthday gifts this year.

This donation-based birthday party idea actually started with AJ Kluge’s eighth birthday when he collected donations for the military and took gifts ranging from dog toys for military dogs to a microwave for transplanted military families to Hanscom Air Force Base.

“I am very proud of my son,” Heidi Kluge said. “He is going to be 10 and for the last three years he has given up receiving gifts to donate to people or animals who he feels need them more.”

For his ninth birthday, AJ’s philanthropic efforts were directed to Reptiles on the Move, a reptile rescue program that travels to area schools and parties educating people about reptiles.

AJ said his favorite animals are tortoises and dogs; since he couldn’t find a charity focused on tortoises, he turned his attention to dogs.

“I decided to donate to dogs in general because I love dogs,” AJ Kluge said. “I really have everything I need … I have an iPod and stuff so I don’t need any more things.”

And the young Kluge’s efforts are having an impact on his friends, too. He said a couple of his friends have followed his lead and decided to make donations to charities instead of receiving birthday gifts.

Photos: Contributed by Heidi Kluge. The images are from AJ Kluge’s ninth birthday party during which he collected donations for a reptile rescue. AJ Kluge is pictured with the turtle on his head and fifth from the left in the snake photo.