On the afternoon of April 27, Julia Salido and Tony López, two of our education volunteers, gathered with children attending a weekend event at Resplandor International to talk about why it’s important for pets to be vaccinated and sterilized. Resplandor is a nonprofit organization in the rural community of Cajones that is dedicated to collaborating with individuals, families, and communities in education, culture, and health to enhance quality of life and well-being. It offers numerous activities and resources for children, including a large library of children’s books, early childhood education, a computer center and classes, a nature program, a summer camp program, swimming, painting, and music.
More than 20 children and adolescents attended our event, which took place in Resplandor’s community center, where Julia and Tony explained that vaccinating dogs and cats protects them from serious diseases—some of which, like rabies, can also infect humans—and that sterilizing pets prevents them from having puppies and kittens that all too often end up homeless. They answered many questions posed by their audience. Accompany Julia and Tony were two recently rescued dogs, which the children got to meet.
After their talk, Tony and Julia gave the youngsters materials for making masks of their pets’ faces, and the kids chose to make either a dog’s or a cat’s face. As Tony explained afterward, “We asked the children to put on their masks, pretend to be their pet, and then thank their human guardians for taking care of them and tell them they wanted to be vaccinated.”
Everybody had fun, even the two rescued dogs.