When Omololu International School Grade 1 Teacher, Amanda Murdoch, saw a clip on a news program about improving the confidence and reading skills of young students by having them read to shelter animals, she contacted Suzie Donahue and “AARF Shelter Buddies” was born! Based on a program developed and shared with AARF by the Humane Society of Missouri, Shelter Buddies benefits students as they practice their reading skills by reading to puppies who listen well and do not criticize when a word is mispronounced! Additionally, it gives much needed socialization to the shelter puppies while they wait for their forever homes. The first visit on Friday May 19th was a huge success and enjoyed by the students and the puppies too. One student ever proclaimed it was “the best day of his life”! AARF is grateful to Miss Murdoch and her class for their visit and hopes that other readers, young and old, might want to visit the shelter and spend some time reading and socializing with the puppies and becoming an honorary “Shelter Buddy” too!
For more information on this program please contact Suzie via email at Suzie@aarf.ai
Visitors to the shelter are always welcome to come and pet the puppies or kittens between 10 & 12:30 Mon – Sat and also 3:30 – 5:30 on Mon, Tues, Wed and Fri afternoons. For more information call AARF at 476-2731.
-Contributed
(Published without editing by The Anguillian newspaper.)
