Final Reflection- End of the project

Teach love, generosity, good manners and some of that will drift from the classroom to the home and who knows, the children will be educating the parents.-Roger Moore

My classmates at Village Fest

    Ok so, at the beginning of this project, my partner and I didn't talk much. I think that completing this project has bought us closer together. We were initially paired together because both our philosophies were centered around helping animals in need. Aside from that, our philosophies were completely different. We started working together and I could see how our philosophies were starting to connect. We both liked volunteering and being generous towards animals and we both realized, over time, just how much animals benefit from generosity. In the beginning we were going to volunteer once a week at a different place each week. we ended up doing something completely different. Hannah and I went to a place called Ferdinand's Familia over the weekends and we went to the Greyhound Adoption Center during the week. I feel like I really impacted the animals lives for the better and I find myself wanting to go back, even though the project is over. Near the end, I feel that both of us felt really accomplished in what we had done to help the animals. It seems like we really changed the views of people around us and we changed our own personal views as well. I feel closer to animals than I ever was before and I think that, with a little bit of effort, everybody could be closer to animals. 

   

Final Reflection

Feeding Horses at Ferdinand's Familia

Washing Dogs at the GAC

For the past couple of weeks, Alex and I have been working on our generosity project with animals and tracking our progress on this blog. At first, our plan was to work at several rescues, walk our neighbors dogs for them, and feed strays all in certain designated weeks. We soon found that that was a challenge. To volunteer at rescues you had to do an orientation to learn more about what you do and how to work with the animals they have, then you're able to volunteer. By the time we had set up dates for volunteering and orientations, we had completely forgotten to set out to do the other things we planned on doing. I felt that that was worked in our favor a little though because it helped teach us better time management. Volunteering at the two animal rescues, Ferdinand's Familia and the Greyhound Adoption Center, were really eye opening. I was able to see how much generosity affected the animals they rescued, especially at the Greyhound Adoption Center. Every time you leave the GAC you feel like you made a difference in the dogs' lives because you could see how much happier it made them. I loved being able to see the difference generosity made to these animals. I believe that people should be generous towards one another, but also towards animals. Overall the project was a great experience because it helped show me the effects of generosity in a different way than most people see.

Grooming at Ferdinand's Familia

Watching the Dogs at the GAC

Socializing Dogs at the GAC

Week 5: Village Fest

Some of the people that pet the dogs

Today was village fest. We walked rescue dogs around to show that rescue animals can be good pets. We also handed out cards that tell people to go to our website and comment their acts of generosity towards animals. You can comment here to tell us about your generous acts. Hannah and I both handed out cards, we finished handing them out pretty quickly. I was surprised that so many people came up to us and listened to us talk about our project. within an hour we had handed out all of our cards. People seemed genuinely interested in what we had to say.

My classmates working on the generosity project

Village fest stage

View of village fest

Walking around village fest

Week Five - Village Fest Cards

Frontside of Cards on Publisher

Backside of the Finished Cards

This week Alex and I worked on making cards and getting ready for Village Fest. Village Fest is a festival our school community puts onto show their work. For Village Fest, we made cards which has one side to tell people to visit our blog and another side to explain what our project is about. For the cards we had to learn how to use Microsoft Publisher and how to make templates on the program, which ended up making it easier to design the cards. The only challenges we encountered were making sure the wording sounded right and lining up the header's on both sides.We'll be giving out these cards while walking around at Village Fest. As we hand out the cards, we'll explain what they're for.

Backside of Cards on Publisher

Alex Working on Publisher 

Frontside of  the Finished Cards

Week Four - Ferdinand's Familia

Cali After Being Groomed

Learning How to Tack a Horse

Allie After Being Groomed

One of Their Dog's and Goats Playing

This weekend Alex and I went back to Ferdinand's Familia. The owner was there during the time we went so we were able to talk to him and ask questions. We groomed two horses, Cali and Allie, to then ride afterwards. Also, we learned how to put the tack on the horses. I had to stop riding Allie after a while though because we realized her back foot was bugging her. After riding, we groomed the horses again and put them back in their stalls. The owner, Mike Pratt, showed us around the area where they have two dogs. Alex and I were able to play with their two dogs. Mike said he's trying to work on building an adoption center in the back to help give more animals homes. I could really see how much of a difference this rescue made for the animals and how much it really affected them for the better.

Alex Playing With One of The Dogs 

Waiting to Learn How to tack

Greyhound Adoption Center

This week my partner and I went to the Greyhound Adoption Center to volunteer and take care of the rescue dogs.  We helped out in by working shifts at Turnout. We pet dogs and made sure that they didn't start any fights. We cleaned up after the dogs when they went to the bathroom and we made sure they were comfortable and relaxed. There were five or six dogs in each turnout and we both had two shifts. We met other volunteers there and all of them were very kind. The dogs there were very sweet as well. The dogs that I took care of were all females, they were all very relaxed and easy going.

Week Three - Greyhound Adoption Center

Learning How to Put Muzzles On

Chase

Alex Meeting Radar

Yesterday Alex and I went to the Greyhound Adoption Center for our volunteer orientation. While there we toured the facility and were able to meet most of the dogs they have there. In total they have about 50 rescued Greyhounds or Greyhound mixes. Less than a week ago they received 10 dogs from Mexico that were used as racing dogs. Most of the dogs there are in kennels, mainly for recovery from fractions from racing or they're just resting. Alex and I got to go in one of the pens with the dogs when they were in 'turn out'. That's a time period where the dogs can play and socialize for 40 minutes, three times a day. We also were able to learn how to get dogs out from the kennels correctly, along with putting muzzles on them. The reason behind the muzzles is not because they're mean dogs, it's to protect them. Greyhounds have very fragile skin and by having the muzzle on it helps protect them mainly when they're playing with one another. We were taught how to wash some of the dogs there. After we learned how, we were able to wash around seven dogs before we had to leave. All of the dogs they had there were really sweet and great dogs. I could definitely see that they are great pets. Next week we're going back on both Tuesday and Thursday. Also my mom said that we could continue volunteering there after the project too. Going there really showed me how much help volunteering does and the difference it makes because I could see how much work everything takes. Something that really struck me was how sweet the dogs were that only came 5 days ago from being race dogs. It showed me how much these people worked and took care of the dogs and how much of a difference it made. Overall I really enjoyed going to the Greyhound Adoption Center.

One of the Dogs Resting with and Fraction

Learning to Get Dogs
 Out of Kennels

One of the Dogs Was Adopted 

Tangent Resting at 'Turn Out'

Kennels

Alex at 'Turn Out' with the Newer Dogs

Prime and Plot in Their 'Condo'

Alex Petting Dogs in the Kennels

Alex Learning How to Bathe the Dogs

One of the Dogs in the Outside 'Condos'

Kennels for the Dogs

Paradox Getting a Bath

Dogs in the Outside Condos

The Outside Field

One of the Greyhounds Resting

Ferdinands Familia

This weekend my partner and I went to an animal rescue called Ferdinands Familia. There, we learned about the different animals that they had rescued. Some of the animals there have special needs, for example, there was a horse there named Dakota that has cancer. She is on a strict no grain low sugar diet and we were not able to feed her much. Aside from horses Ferdinands Familia has goats, alpacas, chickens, llamas, sheep, dogs, turtles, and pigs. When we went there we were able to feed and groom the horses and assist our guide with feeding and taking care of the other animals. Volunteering at Ferdinands Familia really makes me want to return and volunteer again and again. All of the animals there are so lovable and you can't help but want to help them. Volunteering here changed me for the better. I feel that even large animals such as horses and llamas have big hearts and I really want to continue helping Ferdinands Familia even after the project is over. 

We also learned that llamas have very long necks.