Barren River Animal Welfare Association: Build-A-Bear Youth Humane Education Grant Report

How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?

The money from this grant was used to enhance our youth-education programs that we provide children throughout the year. We were able to purchase supplies, pay our staff, and pay for special guests to come and educate our children on ways to protect and care for animals.

This grant helped us provide educational opportunities to more than 50 children during the year. These children were able to have one-on-one contact with shelter pets and worked on essential socializing skills that made their adoption chances increase significantly. The children who attended our Critter Club or Camp BRAWA will pass along the valuable information they obtained and spread compassionate and healthy habits in our community.

How many pets did this grant help?

At least 5

Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.

One story of how this money helped BRAWA animals is about two puppies who had severe skin issues and needed special medications. These puppies were taken into a foster home and given the medical attention they needed. Once well enough, the pups were able to come to Camp and Critter Club meetings throughout the summer and get special socialization with the kids on a regular basis. These puppies have since been adopted. The first image is of the puppies before they were treated. The next image is after the skin condition had been treated and the pups were healed. The following two images are of the summer camp children socializing and caring for the shelter animals.