CHARLEMONT — Having adopted two cats, a dog and a new kitten, it’s safe to say that Charlemont resident Rachel Harris is passionate about caring for animals.

It was this passion that fueled her recent work with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office Regional Dog Shelter in Turners Falls that landed her a Girl Scout Gold Award.

“I know that the Gold Award is like the highest honor a Girl Scout can get, but I wasn’t doing it for that,” Harris said. “I was doing it because I really wanted to make a change for the animals in the area, because there are so many poor animals out here that just don’t have homes and I knew that giving them some help at the shelter would help them be able to get them better homes.”

Harris set up a donation box at Food City to collect supplies for the shelter (the box is currently on break while Harris makes a new one for next year) and she helped create a webpage for the shelter using the skills she learned in Franklin County Technical School’s web development program. Harris plans to continue studying web design at Greenfield Community College in the fall. Meanwhile, the veterinary science program at her high school will continue her work of collecting donations for the dog shelter.

Dana Carnegie, communications manager with Girl Scouts of Central and Western Massachusetts, emphasized the importance of sustainability for Gold Award projects.

“That’s one of the components of a Girl Scout Gold Award is sustainability — can it continue into the future, if she can motivate her classmates behind her to carry on to the benefit of the shelter animals,” Carnegie said.

Harris was the only Girl Scout Gold Award recipient from Franklin County this year. Two South Hadley residents, Nora Matzen and Adaline Woods, received the award in Hampshire County.

“[The Gold Award] is earned by girls in grades nine through 12, and it’s their opportunity to make an impactful change,” Carnegie said. “The Gold Award Girl Scout gathers her team, looks for her opportunity to find out more information. It connects her to her community of people and, in Rachel’s case, of course the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, but also her school, working with people there who are gonna help carry this on in the future.”

Harris’ webpage for the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office Regional Dog Shelter can be found at tinyurl.com/FCDogShelter.