From Loss to Love: Coby's Cure brings the Blessing of the Animals to Columbus
By Allan Tompkins
On Oct. 5, 2026 a day after the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals, the Protecting Animal Wellness & Science (PAWS) club, also known as Coby’s Cure, hosted Columbus’ inaugural Blessing of the Animals event in the Brother Eugene Plaza. What was expected to be a small gathering quickly grew into a space resembling a zoo, making the event all that much more fun to be involved in.
Coby’s Cure Origins
For some background, Coby’s Cure is a service-led initiative started by seniors Maximus Barrenechea and myself, Allan Tompkins, in 2025. After losing my dog, Coby, to lymphoma in Aug. 2024, though his loss was hard to accept, I knew that I could spread the love he gave me to the rest of the Columbus community.
At the start of my junior year, I partnered with my friend, Max, who’d also lost his dog, Dexter, to cancer and together, we worked for months to get a service project on the road that was determined to raise money and awareness for dog cancer research. And so Coby’s Cure was born, an effort created purely out of love for the furry creatures in our lives that give so much without ever saying a word.
Through months of designing Columbus-branded collars, leashes and shirts, our designs eventually got approved with the help of our amazing moderator and School Testing Coordinator Mrs. Lourdes Rayneri. Soon after, with the help of my mom, Laura Sesin, we were put into contact with Danny Fernandez (‘00), Columbus alumnus and owner of DSF Promos, who was able to officially manufacture our products—enabling us to start selling shirts, collars and leashes to the entire school community.
"Seeing other people buying our merch and collars really made me realize that this dream had become a reality. Coby’s Cure was really starting to make moves and now I see guys in the hallways wearing our merch and it makes me think about how far we have come," said Co-Founder, Maximus Barrenechea.
While Coby’s Cure was hitting the ground running, our other project, PAWS, was still in the works. We wanted to start a club in Columbus that could scale Coby’s Cure so that Columbus’s student body could be just as involved as we were. While the club’s initial growth was slow, over 135 students signed up at this year’s club fair—a number that has given us hope that a project like this won’t die off once we graduate from Columbus.
Blessing of the Animals
Low expectations have become something of a trend for Coby’s Cure. We didn’t expect much interest in the club, didn’t expect to raise much money and didn’t expect the turnout we got at the club fair. The Blessing of the Animals was no different. None of us knew if anyone would show up and we were already making plans for our friends to simply show up with their pets so that we’d have at least a few people to make the event worth setting up. Yet, once again, we were completely blown away when over a hundred people had signed up for the event.
"Even if only a handful of animals attended, I believed Coby’s Cure would have accomplished something special by bringing our Columbus community together to celebrate the love we share for our animals and the blessings they bring into our lives," said Mrs. Rayneri, "I never imagined such an overwhelming response!"
What made it even harder to believe was that these people weren’t only bringing dogs—some were bringing cats, others reptiles, rabbits, stuffed animals and even birds. The small ceremony we had in mind was completely flipped on its head. Now, we really had to get to work.
Whether it was reaching out to the Art Department for posters or the IT Department for sound systems, it’s safe to say that the process leading up to the event was far from easy; however, it all ended up paying off when the first pets showed up and no one could help but smile at the reality of the situation.
As the number of pets grew in the Brother Eugene Plaza, so did the loudness of voices trying to overpower the barks coming from every direction. My mom and Merchandise Sales Manager Mateo Miranda ran the table selling our merch while other club members guided guests to their seats, separating larger from smaller animals.
The ceremony itself was run by Deacon Dugard who gave a heartwarming homily on the importance of animals in our lives before fittingly walking around the plaza, blessing all of the animals in attendance.
"It was such a blessing to be a part of [the event]. My mom and sisters came and to see so much success for a club I'm so dedicated to was unbelievable," said sophomore and treasurer of PAWS Liam Sesin.
By the end of the day, the once bustling Brother Eugene Plaza was completely empty. As the sky grew darker, the gravity of the event finally hit me and Max and the feeling was nothing short of pure gratitude for those who took time out of their day to dedicate to their animals as well as for all of the efforts made behind the scenes from Mrs. Rayneri, my mom, the maintenance team, IT and so many more.
To us, what this event proved is that Coby’s Cure is no longer a club of low expectations. The passion that we’ve dedicated to making this project something worth running is a passion that is now being recognized by others. The crushing weight of a pet’s loss is not something that we’ll ever be able to avoid. What Coby’s Cure is doing is emphasizing to pet owners across Miami that after a pet is gone, it’s not the loss that should be fixated upon, but the memories that were made when that pet was alive.
And we’re not nearly done with our mission. Money is still being raised and the success of the Blessing of the Animals has given us the green light to start preparing for field trips to Humane Societies across Miami. What’s most important to us is keeping this project alive. Because of that, we’ve given officer positions to a majority of underclassmen so that they can get a feel for working behind the scenes of the club and be that much more prepared to make it the best it possibly can be. The future holds many doubts; Coby’s Cure is not one of them.
"This experience has raised my expectations for what our club can accomplish. It's shown me that when students lead with passion, compassion, and purpose, they can make a meaningful impact...I truly believe this is just the beginning of something very special for Coby’s Cure and our Columbus community," said Mrs. Rayneri.
If you’d like to purchase merchandise or make a donation to support our mission, click on the link below. All net proceeds go to the AKC Canine Health Foundation.
Comments