Operation Kindness: Build-A-Bear Youth Humane Education Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
The $3,045 grant was used to provide support for our Humane Education Program. The donation directly funded the design and printing of a new Humane Education activity/coloring book that teaches kids about care for their pet, adoption, and approaching strange animals. We were able to print 5,000 books for all of the children we serve annually.
The Humane Education Program is a vital component of preventing animal cruelty, reducing owner surrender, and increasing awareness about spaying and neutering family pets. The Humane Education Team focuses on reaching students in after-school programs. We identified the need for humane community education by talking to our constituents, partner organizations, and the public. Other organizations are addressing needs for animal services such as low-cost spay/neuter, "trap, neuter, release" programs for feral cats, and low-cost vaccines. However, no other organization was providing community education or surrender prevention in this geographic area.
Our Humane Education team targets elementary and middle-school children through after-school programs in under-served neighborhoods of North Texas. The goal is to teach children about interacting with animals and treating animals with respect. The projected benefit is that children will learn about responsible pet ownership, including the importance of spay/neuter, humane animal treatment, and proper pet care. The goal is that children will bring that message home to their families, and will keep it with them into adulthood. As we deliver this education, we expect the incidence of animal abuse, unwanted litters, and stray animals to decline in the areas in which we teach.
How many pets did this grant help?
N/A
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
This grant will allow us to provide each child we serve with a fun activity/coloring book that teaches them about how to care for their animal, where to adopt an animal and how to choose the right animal for their family, what a veterinarian is, how to approach a strange animal, word search, matching game, maze and much more!
