Cory Johnson&rsquo;s birthday party looked about as you&rsquo;d expect for a boy turning 8. </p><p>Cory and his friends came in to the party room breathing heavily from a game of laser tag. They ate cookie cake off paper plates with monster trucks on them. They shouted out silly extra lines while singing &ldquo;Happy Birthday.&rdquo;</p><p>But the table of presents behind Cory didn&rsquo;t quite fit. On one corner sat a bag of Friskies cat food, and on another a box of Milk-Bone dog biscuits. Stuffed dog chew-toys stuck out of a Transformers gift bag.</p><p>The presents weren&rsquo;t for Cory, or for any other human. Cory&rsquo;s friends had brought them for the dogs and cats at the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City instead of bringing toys for Cory, who lives in Liberty.</p><p>&ldquo;It helps animals,&rdquo; Cory said, &ldquo;and I have a lot of toys already.&rdquo;</p><p>With his party at Jaegerz Laser Tag in Kansas City on Oct. 17, Cory followed in the footsteps of his 10-year-old sister, Kristin, who has had two birthday parties benefiting the Humane Society. </p><p>Julie Johnson, Cory and Kristin&rsquo;s mother, said she&rsquo;d avoided holding big birthday parties for her children until she got the birthday-for-benefit idea from another mother.</p><p>&ldquo;I want to give them experiences more than stuff, and I don&rsquo;t see the need for 20 friends to come over and bring presents,&rdquo; Johnson said.</p><p>So Johnson told Kristin, and later Cory, that they would receive birthday presents from their parents and grandparents, but the presents from their birthday parties would have to go to someone else.</p><p>When Johnson asked the kids to pick an organization to benefit from their birthday fun, they didn&rsquo;t hesitate to pick the Humane Society. She wasn&rsquo;t surprised, either, because her children&rsquo;s love for animals had already helped turn the family&rsquo;s home into an animal haven of sorts.</p><p>The Johnson family, which is also heavily involved in 4H, owns two dogs, a pig, a rabbit, a guinea pig, and &ldquo;a bunch of chickens&rdquo; &ndash; maybe 15 or 20, Julie Johnson said.</p><p>Invitations to Cory&rsquo;s party let guests know that they could help Cory help the Humane Society, including a link to the society&rsquo;s wish list at its Web site, hsgkc.org. Items on the list include food, treats, toys, leashes and scores of other supplies.</p><p>Robin Rowland, director of development for the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City, said many children show compassion for animals but that a gesture like Cory&rsquo;s is unusual.</p><p>&ldquo;I hope it inspires other kids and even adults to do something like Cory&rsquo;s done,&rdquo; Rowland said.</p><p>Earlier this week, the Johnsons took Cory to the Humane Society to deliver the gifts, where he received some hearty thanks and a tour of the shelter.</p><p>Kristin said she&rsquo;d enjoyed the trip to the Humane Society after her two benefit birthdays.</p><p>&ldquo;I got to see a lot of cats and dogs,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I was really glad I was helping them.&rdquo;</p><p>And after one of those trips, Kristin and Cory even got a gift of their own from their parents &ndash; a new dog for the family.