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Education Program

Click here to see the latest news on the Education Program

Click here to see the article published in “Pets y mas” magazine about our education program (will open in a new window).

McKee-Jacó Education Program

May 2009: Introducing our educational program,
“SHARING THE WORLD WITH THE ANIMALS”

Education ProgramIt’s not always cruelty — mostly they just don’t know any better. This is why EDUCATION is so vitally important.

For over 6 years, our experience in “extinguishing fires” and rescuing so many needy animals has shown us the value of EDUCATION. Today I want to introduce to you, my collaborator, our new educational program — one that is directed towards our greatest resource, the children. Through them, we will be able to know where our priorities are, and thus be able to more effectively enlarge the group of volunteers for our rescue and neutering program. We will teach the concept of RESPONSIBILITY.

And through this program, the cruelty that we deal with on a daily basis will become less and less prevalent.

“SHARING THE WORLD WITH THE ANIMALS” will teach our young people the value of empathy and compassion towards ALL animals, which in turn will help them to realize THEIR ROLE AS CAREGIVERS. Our primary target is to educate them towards a better understanding of the needs of all animals, the relationship between the animal and it’s environment, and the ways in which all animals, the environment and humans are related. Thus we will forge a feeling of “irreversible responsibility”. Thanks to the Municipality of Garabito and public schools in our area for their important support. I am sure that you too will JOIN US in this new adventure, one that shows such promise of a better living environment for all animals. This program is so desperately needed in order to restore harmony between humans and the animals and the environment they live in. APBA has secured the professional services of psychologist Cynthia Lizano, who will be in charge of the program. She has an ample experience, among others qualities, in community educational programs. The first stage of the project started on May 15th, and will continue for a period of 2 months, costing $2000. This amount has been financed thru a donation from Mrs. Linda Look of the USA. The amount needed in order to continue this project for one year is $10,440, which figures out to $870 per month, and includes all costs needed for five presentations of 2 hours each per week, and involves approximately 600 students per month. If you would like some more information about this wonderful new educational project, or simply would like to know more about us and our other projects, please send your email to info@mckee-jaco.com. Thank you in advance for your collaboration. Katja Bader Asociación Pro Bienestar Animal McKee Jacó


Funds needed in order to start the education project and operate for a period of 2 months
Personnel Costs
$1,600
  • Drawing up of plan for our education program “Sharing the world with the animals” in two versions, for two different grades.
  • Meetings with school directors and teachers in our county.
  • Presenting the concept to the Municipality.
  • Presenting the concept to the Chamber of Commerce.
  • Presenting the concept to the local businesses and to other potential sponsors, such as Dos Pinos, Tropical, Nestle Purina, as well as visiting all of them in their offices.
  • Purchasing and preparing all materials needed for future presentations.

This amount includes: costs of a professional (Cynthia Lizano, psychologist), all phone and transportation costs, as well as the office materials necessary to develop the program.

Materials needed for schools – one time purchase
$400
Total funds needed to prepare and start the project
$2,000
This stage started on May 15th, and is financed by a generous donation from Mrs. Linda Look from the USA.

Funds needed in order to continue the education project for a period of one year
Professional Fees
$7,200
  • Cynthia Lizano, Costa Rican psychologist, one year experience on the job, accepted and liked by students, parents and teachers
  • Luz Pineda, expertise in presentation of educational materials, experience in interacting with students
Non-Reusable Materials (250 colones per child)
$4,200
Additional Costs (phone, transportation, etc.)
$1,600
Total funds needed to operate the project for one year
$13,000
The annual education budget of $13,000 impacts 1414 children in the two main Jacó schools. This $1083 per month (0,77 cent per student) creates the basis for educating these young citizens the value of respect for life and teaching them the concept of RESPONSIBILITY.


Latest News

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Within the overall message of our education program, we make sure that the youngest members of our community understand the overpopulation problem, and are aware of the only solution to it. This year we decided to extend our campaign to the streets, installing attractive and appealing signs at various locations where people pass and/or congregate. In March we installed 14 signs, and almost immediately we began receiving incredibly positive feedback. People on the streets approach us, praising both the idea of spreading the message this unusual way, as well as the 2 different designs we used. We would like to be able to produce 14 more signs and install them at the southern end of Jaco and also in Herradura. If you would like to sponsor one or more of these wonderful signs, please let us know. The price is $60 per unit, and the size is 70 x 70 cm.

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The awesome design comes from CRYSTAL MCLAUGHLIN, an American artist from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and the project is sponsored by LINDA LOOK – thank you to both of you for making this great project such a big success. And thank you to all of our supporter for their contributions to the spay-neuter program – the full list can be seen on our website: http://mckee-jaco.com/our-sponsors/

Another successful educational activity by MCKEE JACO has been running since the end of February at the little school in Jaco-Pueblo Nuevo. It’s a part of our education program entitled “SHARING THE WORLD WITH THE ANIMALS”, developed in 2009 by CYNTHIA LIZANO, later improved by ANGELA MARIA LOZANO. During these activities the kids work on many different art works that illustrate all animal rights, finishing with a large (1 meter high) sculpture of a parrot, an animal chosen as a symbol of all wild life animals which are so often captured, only to end up living a miserable life in captivity in Costa Rican homes. This sculpture, together with a big sign saying “Let me be free” will be put in the patio of the school. It is very important to organize this activity in exactly this area, one who’s residents are famous for robbing the nests and selling the parrot and macaw chicks on the black market. Thank you to LINDA LOOK from the USA for sponsoring this great activity and to ANGELA MARIA LOZANO for her excellent job working with the kids.

During the course of our “I brake for animals” project, we were finally able to find sponsors and produce 3 new signs at the entrance to and around the Refugio de Vida Silvestre Punta Mala – a “death trap” which claims the lives of various wild animals every single day. In order for the signs to be easily noticeable, they are 2 meters high and 1 meter wide and they are made using reflective materials, making them clearly visible both day and night. Thank you to all sponsors of these so very necessary signs: Dave & Jessica of Jaco, Denise Bishko @ Supersol – Esterillos, Fellow Animals – Esterillos, Restaurant Los Almendros – Esterillos, Tecni Hogar Parrita and Variedades El Amigo – Parrita. Together with these three, we’ve now got 7 big signs installed on the highway in places with extremely high traffic and mortality of our wildlife animals. And 14 medium sized signs on the streets in Jaco, Herradura and Tarcoles.

Also our mission to have our sticker “Yo freno por los animales” (“I brake for animals”) on each car in Costa Rica is ongoing! If you are an animal lover and don’t have a sticker yet, please order one now and join us in achieving our goal to create more awareness and reduce the number of injured and killed animals on the roads.

The attractive, fun design of the sticker also looks great on any other moving vehicle, so make sure to pass it on to non-car owners too! They cost only 500 colones each, and are available in black and yellow. Contact us to place an order, or purchase them at: Veterinaria Plaza Boulevard, Veterinaria Dra. Wendy Villalobos, Farmacia Sofia or Seguridad Total Pacifico.

Our huge THANK YOU goes out to the American artist CRYSTAL MCLAUGHLIN from Myrtle Beach for this fantastic design, and to our friend and supporter LINDA LOOK for sponsoring this entire project from the start.3

EDUCATION NEVER STOPS

Education never stops - la educación nunca se detiene

Like we’ve done during the last few years, this year we again continue bringing days of fun and educational activities to our local communities, with even fewer available resources. Reaching out to the community gives us the advantage of communication, not only with the kids, but with their brothers and sisters and often even the moms, who also enjoy coming out and watching the activities. Thank you to all of you that helped to sponsor this project, and to Angela Mariafrom MireVea Art School for the wonderful job she does.


SPONSORS NEEDED FOR THE VACATION ACTIVITY “BRINGING EDUCATION TO OUR COMMUNITY”

Sponsors are needed for the vacation activity “BRINGING EDUCATION TO OUR COMMUNITY”. As we did last year in the INVU in Jaco, we would like to repeat these educational events held in the center of the community in Herradura’s Parcelas, in order to make it easy for the kids to reach us independently. We already got donations from Rossy Quesada at Cafe del Mar, Liz Bar from Taco Bar Jaco, Chris Karrer from Herradura Divers and Taffy Tucker – now we still need $300 in order to start this project next week. If you would like to help us, please let us know – every bit helps!

Sponsors needed - buscamos patrocinadores


EDUCATION PROGRAM

One of Jaco McKee’s most important programs, “Sharing the world with the Animals”, started in May 2009. Because of a poor understanding of animal welfare issues, there was a high degree of suffering in Costa Rica’s animal population. The organization recognized the need for an educational program that would stick in the minds of people. Together with psychologist and teacherCynthia Lizano, who used her expertise to incorporate animal welfare education into regular course materials, McKee Jaco launched an effective program that exceeded everyone’s expectations. “On a yearly basis, we have been able to reach over 1200 students! These days it’s Angela Maria from Art School ‘Mire vea’ who does a wonderful job working with the kids. Our goal was, and continues to be, to reach as many children in our community as possible and create a sense of ‘irreversible responsibility’ by educating children towards a better understanding of the needs of all animals, the relationship between the animal and it’s environment and the ways in which all animals, the environment and humans are related.”

Programa de Educación

Without the help of McKee Jaco’s long-time friend and supporter Linda Look, who is also sponsoring our ‘I brake for Animals’ project, we would not have been able to launch the program all these years ago and turn it into such a huge success.

Besides the activities at schools, McKee Jaco also organizes events for children and their families within the community filled with quality animal information and lots of fun stuff to do. By bringing animal welfare awareness programs into the homes of Costa Ricans and making everyone feel included in the program, McKee Jaco strives to have its mission better understood and adopted. Education is a key element in helping pet owners become more aware and ensuring that animals receive the respect they so need and deserve. Unfortunately, as a result of the lack of available funds, the education program has currently been put on hold until further notice. Therefore, should you wish to donate to this fantastic program, or know of any funding opportunities that could help keep it alive, please don’t hesitate to contact us.


Education never stops!

MARCH 2013 UPDATE:

Despite the limited availability of resources, our education project turned out to be a huge success. In cooperation with the Jaco Library, we organised bi-weekly events during January and February filled with quality animal information and lots of fun stuff to do and learn. The program included learning everything about animal rights, arts projects and story time. It was our goal to reach as many children in our community as possible. To ensure this, all the activities took place in the middle of the community, making it very easy for the kids to reach us independently. We were delighted to see that, besides the kids, their brothers, sisters and even their moms attended! We finished the program with a beautiful mural in the kids park in INVU. The kids worked really hard on creating this masterpiece and we’ll be adding the names of all of them involved and some messages soon. A huge thank you goes out to ANGELA MARIA and her husband JOHNNY fromART SCHOOL MIREVEA for volunteering as “art directors” and making it possible to have a unique and ever-lasting reminder of this fantastic project.

¡La educación nunca se detiene!

Unfortunately, education is a costly (yet vital) element of our organization. As a result of the lack of available funds, our education program needs to be adjusted and our activities will be limited to one school only this year. It goes without saying that we’ll continue to help alleviate animal suffering by raising public consciousness. Education is key in helping low-income families become more aware and ensuring that animals receive the respect they so need and deserve. Should you wish to donate to this project, or know of any funding opportunities that could help keep it alive, please don’t hesitate to contact us!

Thank you again, SUE BARTHOLOMEW for sponsoring these activities during the vacation time and LINDA LOOK for supporting this highly important project from the start!


McKee Jaco and Jaco Library is now bringing half-days of fun and educational activities to our local communities with even fewer resources available. Coming out to the community gives us an advantage of communication not only with the kids, but also with their brothers and sisters and often also moms, who also come and watch the activities. And of course this makes possible the participation of kids whose parents cannot bring them to the library or whatever place where the activity is offered. We come and set up a place for activities in the middle of the community, so all kids can come by themselves without depending on anybody.

Education never stops!

The following activities are implemented:

  • learn about animal rights
  • art projects for the school children (coloring, drawing, collage), all about animals and their rights
  • story time – the nicest animal stories we were able to find

The program is held twice a week, from 9.00 am through 12.00 noon during the months of January and February. We hope to reach as many children and their families in our community as possible.This event is made possible by a generous donation from the BARTHOLOMEW FAMILY of the United States. THANK YOU!

Education program Jan 2013

In February, after the local schools organize their programs, we want to start working at the Escuela Central in Jaco on a daily basis.

This great (and expensive) project will be possible thanks to the generous support of LINDA LOOK from the USA – the same person who years ago sponsored the start of our education program, and has been helping to keep it alive ever since. THANK YOU LINDA, FOR MAKING IT POSSIBLE TO CONTINUE THIS GREAT AND SO VERY IMPORTANT PART OF OUR PROJECT. 

This year we would like to include in this great program another big school from our area – the Herradura school. We will be starting an education fund for this school – more information will be sent in a separate message in the next few days.


Pet Festival in Jacó

Another successful activity with the younger members of our community and their parents – Pet Festival – took place on Saturday, September 29 at the Escuela Central in Jaco. The event was open to the public. 49 dogs were entered in 5 different competitions, and they were brought by both the kids and their parents, and we calculated that there were approximately 200 people participating. Winners received great prizes, all donated generously by our sponsors: CALYPSO CRUISES, CANOPY VISTA LOS SUENOS, DISCOVERY HORSEBACK TOURS, TACO BAR JACO, CITI CINEMAS JACO, RESTAURANTE LAS OLAS, RESTAURANTE BIG BAMBOO, CAFÉ DEL MAR, ESCUELA DE ARTE MIREVEA, VETERINARIA PLAZA BOULEVARD, LABORATORIO CLINICO JACO, DAYSTAR JACO, HOTEL MARRIOTT HERRADURA, IMPORTADORA MONGE JACO, JUDY WITT,  MARY STOMPE, ANNA PILZ, LIBRERÍA MAREA BAJA, EL COMITÉ CANTONAL DE DEPORTES. Thank you to all of you! Thank you also to LICORERA JACO for donating refreshments for all our helpers.

Pet Festival 2012

This event was one of the most entertaining festivals we’ve ever organized. There were dogs which could do tricks I’ve never seen before – a one-eyed mutt was riding a skateboard, climbing a ladder, carrying trash bags and putting them in the trash cans. This dog had sunglasses on and loved the show, and anyone could see that she had at least as much fun as we did. There was a singing Chihuahua – the funniest Chihuahua I’ve ever seen – who is a very smart dog with so many tricks that it was hilarious. And there was dog (the same one that won the “Most Mutty Mutt” contest) who could play soccer with the kids.  All entrants were very well taken care of, and their owners were very proud of them and one could see that they really loved them. The decorations were great as well. with different animals cut out of cardboard (pets and wildlife) and their respective rights – each animal had a sign with one of their rights: right to be taken care of, right to live and die in dignity, right to be healthy, right to be free, as well as the right to live unmolested in the natural environment for wildlife. There was an exhibition of the artwork which illustrates animal rights, and there was also an exhibition of the best animal stories – all created by the students in our education program. Both parents and the public alike were very interested in this, and I saw lines in front of these exhibitions.

Pet Festival in Jacó

The message of this activity was repeated in all our presentations and decorations: all animals have rights, and it is the responsibility of the entire community to make sure that these rights are respected. Once this happens, Jaco will become a better place to live for all: humans, pets and wildlife animals.

A huge THANK YOU goes to everyone who helped us to make this activity such a big success: the director of Escuela Central Vera Alpizar and all teachers participating in the event, especially professor Asdrubal Moya Orozco, who manned the microphone during the entire event, and toGuillermo Rios from the Red Cross, housewifeFlor Morales Jimenez, and Lineth Aguilar Carmona, a college student – all 3 of them worked as a jury for the entire event. Thanks also to Angela Maria Lozano, who is in charge of the education program in our organization, her husband Johnny, who helped with the decoration and organization, all the donors mentioned above, and to everybody who was there to share this great adventure with us.


The Education Program Continues

Our education program “Sharing the world with the animals” continues. With 10 weekly presentations at Escuela Central de Jaco with its 750 students, and one weekly activity with the children from the little Escuela Las Monas with its 32 students. All of this month, Angela Maria concentrated her efforts on one very important subject: Animal Rights. In one of the older editions (2009) of the animal magazine “Pets y mas” we found a great article under the title of “The animals have rights”. We decided to use this article “adapting it” to be used in grades 1 through 6, making sure that all students, independent of their age, understand this very important message. At the end of each presentation, the students have to write a short story from their life that best illustrates one of the rights discussed during the class, painting a more solid picture of this right. There is a huge difference between the stories the kids wrote back in February (when we started our program this year) and now. Back then some stories were pretty scary – talking about animals dying in accidents with no help from anyone, chickens being trampled to death, etc.  Now the kids are telling us about how they have rescued animals from the streets, how they have saved nests with baby-birds falling out of the trees, and how they brought their sick dog to the clinic.

Collage NL May 2012

The rights of ALL animals are  discussed — those who are wild and have the right to be free, as well as those who cannot survive without our care and have a right to be loved, fed and taken care of. We are planning on publishing the art and the stories – some of them are really quite exceptional.

June Collage

…and like always, a special thanks to Angela Maria Lozano Lorza, for her continued effort in designing the presentation in this very interesting and accessible way, and to the school principalVera Virginia Alpizar and to all the other teachers for their support and cooperation. And of course, to Mrs. Linda Look from the USA for sponsoring this so very important and innovative program.

Escuela June 2012


Education Program in Jacó schools continues

As soon as the schools opened their doors, we started having meetings at three of them with teachers as well as parents – Escuela Central – with its 750 students, it’s the biggest school in Jaco, Escuela Hacienda with 62 students andEscuela Las Monas with 32 students. And just like in the past, both teachers and parents were very happy to have us back on board, offering us all kinds of help in order to continue the education program “Sharing the world with the animals” Angela Maria Lozano Lorza, the same individual who was working with us at the library during the “creative afternoons” we offered during the vacation time, has many years of experience working with and for the community, as well as being a teacher at the school Mirevea. The kids know her well, and love working with her. What we are teaching them is the concept of responsibility and respect for all manner of life, both animals and persons alike.

Mayo 2012 Programa de Educacion

Angela Maria has a very interesting way of offering the presentations – after communicating with them our message, she lets the kids come to their own conclusions, and then asks them to translate all that they learned into art. The artwork can either be left at school as a decoration, or taken home and shown to the family. In both cases the message presented through the artwork gets seen by everyone, and many others can learn from what we teach. The sponsor of this program is Ms. Linda Look from the USA, the same person who has supported this program from the start, and who continues her support to this day. We are still unable to secure a sponsor in order to include the Herradura-School in our project, so this school, with a student body numbering over 800, will have to wait until we find a way to introduce our program there at least on a “part-time” basis.

Educacion Mayo 2012

A big THANK YOU also goes out to our local artist Carlos Galli, for donating to us 3 different cartoons made especially for our education program and campaign against wildlife animals in captivity. These cartoons are already in the schools and in the library as coloring sheets for kids. Check them out on the picture above – aren’t they great?


Game afternoons at the library and news from the Education Program

January 2012 In the month of January we organized, together with the Jaco Library, “creative afternoons” for children ages 7 to 14 years old. The subject was of course animals – both pets as well as wildlife.  Angela Maria, well known by all the kids in Jaco, worked with them in our library, spending time with them reading, discussing and painting. The project was a big success – each time we had over 10 kids attending. Some of them were brought by their parents, who stayed at the library for the entire two hours and enjoyed reading books. The kids were welcomed by the two “library dogs” Ninja and Boston, and all the kids loved them and were spoiling them with treats and cookies. Turns out our kids are all really talented – the paintings they made were wonderful, some of them looked like little pieces of art. February 2012 Spay Day / Dia de Castracion Febrero 2012 A huge thank you to Liana Robinson from the Library is in order, for providing a place for this activity and for being a part of this project. And another big thank you goes to Libreria Jaco for donating some materials and to Licorera Jaco, Café del Mar, Caliche’s Wishbone and Soda La Farra de Fuego for donating delicious drinks and snacks for the kids. Angela Maria has already had meetings with the school principals and teachers here, and we are planning to start our program very soon. We will be working with the 2 main schools in our area, and in addition to them we decided to also approach the smaller schools for regular presentations – the chronograms are ready and just need to be accepted by the principals. This great project is sponsored by LINDA LOOK from the USA – thank you Linda for giving us the opportunity to continue it this year.


What’s new at the Education Program?

January 2012

In the month of January we organize, together with the Jaco Library, creative afternoons for children ages 7 to 14 years old. The subject is of course animals — both pets and wildlife. Angela Maria, well known by all the kids in Jaco, is working with them in our library, reading, discussing and painting, and all kids are invited to participate. Depending on how popular these afternoons will become, we are considering the possibility of continuing this project also during the school year.

In February, after the local schools organize their programs, we want to start working at two main schools in our area on a daily basis.

McKee Jaco Education Program

This great (and expensive) project will be possible thanks to the generous support of LINDA LOOK from the USA — the same person who years ago sponsored the start of our education program, and has been helping to keep it alive ever since. THANK YOU LINDA FOR MAKING IT POSSIBLE TO CONTINUE THIS GREAT AND SO VERY IMPORTANT PART OF OUR PROJECT.


The last stage of our education program “Sharing the World with the Animals” for 2010

We finished our education program for this year with an animal competition at the Herradura school on November 21st. Our Thank You goes to all sponsors of the wonderful prizes for the winners and for participants: PURINA Costa Rica, Marriott Los Suenos, DayStar – Jaco, Banco Nacional de Costa Rica – Jaco, Farmacia Sofia – Jaco, Kartwheels Boutique – Erin & Christian Diaz – Jaco, Farmacia Jaco, and magazines “Pets y mas” and “Mucho gusto”. A special thank you also goes out to Angela Maria and Johnny from the Art School “Mire vea” in Jaco for joining us at this event, offering an art class and an art competition to the kids and painting faces, so that in the end we had some cat and butterfly-faced kids running around. And of course, a huge THANK YOU goes to Luz Pineda, for both organizing this event as well as for being in charge of this education program during the entire year.

November 2010 - McKee Jaco education program

What we focused on this year was teaching our younger members of the community the concept of responsibility and respect for all manner of life — both animal and persons alike.


Our education project extended including Herradura

McKee-Jaco Education Program in Herradura

Animales - comunidadOur EDUCATION PROGRAM “Sharing the world with the animals” is finally also in Herradura school. Starting in August, we concentrated our efforts on Escuela líder de Herradura with over 850 students. With some more time we will be able to reach all the students with many different presentations and events, and here are some of the subjects we cover:

  • “WHAT ANIMAL WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE?”
  • “ANIMALS IN OUR COMMUNITY”
  • “COMPANION AND WILDLIFE ANIMALS”
  • “ANIMALS AND THEIR NECESSITIES”
  • “ANIMAL’S DICTIONARY”
  • “WHAT DO ANIMALS EAT”
  • “IN WHICH DANGER ARE PETS?”

Special Thanks to Luz Piñeda, who does an excellent job teaching our young people everything they need to know about animals, their needs and feelings and about how to be a responsible animal owner. Also a huge THANK YOU goes to the school principal Daisy Mora Flores and to all the other teachers for their support and cooperation.


Education Program – June 2010 update

Our EDUCATION PROGRAM “Sharing the world with the animals” during the last two months was also a huge success, as we concentrated our efforts on Escuela Central de Jacó (Kindergarden to 6th grade) with 660 students. We were able to reach all the students with many different presentations and events, and here are some of the subjects we covered:

  • “WHAT ANIMAL WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE?”
  • “HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE TREATED IF YOU WERE AN ANIMAL?”
  • “IN WHICH DANGER ARE PETS?”
  • MURAL “HOW WE TAKE CARE OF OUR PETS”
  • “GOOD AND BAD FOR OUR PETS”
  • “VACCINATING OUR PETS”
  • “HOMAGE TO A DOG”

Spayday collage Please click on image to see a larger version in a new window.

Special Thanks to Luz Piñeda, who does an excellent job teaching our young people everything they need to know about animals, their needs and feelings and about how to be a responsible animal owner. Also a huge THANK YOU goes to the school principal Vera Virginia Alpizar and to all the other teachers for their support and cooperation.


Education program in Jacó schools continues

March School Project

As soon as the schools opened their doors, we picked up right where we’d left off before the big holidays last year. We started in February with a meeting with the teachers and parents at Escuela Central — with its 660 students, it’s the biggest school in Jacó. And just like last year, both teachers and parents were very happy to have us back on board, offering us all kinds of help in order to continue the education program “Sharing the world with the animals”. We had a lot of fun with different competitions and games. Thanks to Purina and Pets y mas, who sponsored this event, we were able to offer great prizes to the winners. Another Special thanks goes to Cynthia Lizano and Luz Pineda, (both of whom are in charge of the education program this year) for organizing this meeting in such a professional and interesting way. And to the school principal Vera Alpizar and to the teachers, for their incredibly effective support, both now and in the past. And of course to Pets y mas and Purina for providing us with prizes for this great event. After this successful “comeback-meeting”, we began making our presentations every day to different groups of kids. What we teach is the concept of responsibility and respect for all manner of life — for both animal and persons alike.

March School Project 2

We also had a meeting with the teachers from our Colegio Profesional de Jacó – with its 754 students, it’s the biggest high school in our county. We picked up our work there, immediately after the Easter Holiday in April. We are still unable to secure a sponsor for including the Herradura-School in our project, so this school, with a student body numbering over 800, will have to wait until we find a solution in order to introduce our program there at least as a “part-time” project.


Sponsors needed for the education project at the Herradura school February of 2010

After 6 weeks of vacation, the schools opened their gates this February, which means that we are back on track with our program “Sharing the world with the animals”. The last year was one huge success — in numerous activities we taught our young people the value of empathy and compassion towards ALL animals. Our primary target was to educate them towards a better understanding of the needs of all animals, the relationship between the animal and it’s environment, and the ways in which all animals, the environment and humans are related. We implemented our program in the two main schools in Jacó — Colegio Tecnico Profesional (from 7th to the 11th grade) and Escuela Central de Jacó (from Kinder to 6th grade) and were able to reach 1388 students and their families. This year we will continue working with both of these schools, but we would also like to include the school in Herradura in our project. This school has over 800 students, and we consider it a very important target in our efforts to make Garabito county a better place to live for both humans and animals. In order to include this school we need sponsor/s — if you would like to part-sponsor this great project, please contact me at 2-643-4012 or info@mckee-jaco.com.

IT’S NOT ALWAYS CRUELTY — MOSTLY THEY JUST DON’T KNOW ANY BETTER. THIS IS WHY EDUCATION IS SO VITALLY IMPORTANT.


Spay-Neuter Competition in Jacó Clinic January of 2010

Spay/Neuter Click on the image to see a larger version in a new window.

The Spay-Neuter Competition in Jacó Clinic held during the week of January 18 – 23 was a big success. We attended to 25 kids and their families, providing not only the surgery, but also distributing all kinds of flyers made especially for this event while addressing the most important problems in our area. All the kids received many wonderful prizes, from school kits, dog and cat chow and animal magazines, to certificates for a free consultation at the Jacó clinic, valid for the entire year 2010. A huge THANK YOU goes to Dra. Wendy Villalobos and Dr. Alejandro Madriz and all the staff at the Plaza Boulevard clinic in Jaco for their excellent work and assistance during this week. A very special THANKS also to Purina for donating 75 bags of dog and puppy chow for this event, as well as other activities we are planning for the months of February and March. And to our friends from “Pets y mas” magazine for providing (once again) so many free magazines for all the kids and their families. And of course, to Mrs. Linda Look from the USA, who had the original idea for this great activity, and also sponsored it!

Besides the 25 pets in the competition, we were able to have spayed/neutered other 33 animals, so all together we reached a number of 58 in January.

Castration Week for strays and pets belonging to low income families will take place during the week of February 2nd to February 7th. If you know of any animals with no owners, or animal owners who cannot afford even the very low special price we offer in our monthly clinics, please contact me for an appointment. Please consider that pet owners who qualify for this surgery have no transportation possibilities either, and will need somebody’s help in order to bring their animals in.


DECEMBER 2009

Spay/Neuter competition for elementary and high school students

There will be some “homework” for our Elementary and High School students for their long summer vacation. On the enrollment days, (December 17th and 18th) all students are receiving information about the special spay/neuter competition, held in January from the 18th to the 23rd at the Jacó clinic.

School flyer

The special price of the surgery will be 5000 colones, (about $9) which has to be paid by the student who brings the animal in. The first 25 students who bring an animal in will receive:

  1. a certificate good for 1 free consultation at the vet clinic, including de-worming
  2. 1 bag of dog/cat chow
  3. a nice new school kit (exercise books, pens, pencils, pencil boxes etc.)

There will be also some “surprise prizes” for all participants.

Vacation time here in Costa Rica is very long, and during this time our young people here don’t have anything useful to do, as our county doesn’t offer much for them. This will be a great opportunity for them to learn more about how a vet clinic works, as they will be interacting with the vet, learning about the proper care of their pets and maybe even getting a chance to volunteer in one of our clinics on occasion.


Jacó responsibleJacó – the community responsible for its animals October 2009

Another successful activity with the younger members of our community and their parents took place on Friday, October 16th at the new park in Jacó. 240 1st thru 3rd graders from the Escuela Central in Jacó, some of them in the company of their parents, some with their pets, attended the event together with their teachers. After a typical breakfast for everybody, (sponsored by the parents) they were offered some different presentations. The ones who brought their pets attended the presentation by Dr. Esteban Soto from The Plaza Boulevard clinic in Jacó, and they won the following prizes for their furry friends: ultrasound teeth cleaning, vaccines and consultations.

Cynthia Lizano, who is in charge of the education program in our organization, shared the microphone with Scott Ramirez from Scott New Promotional Music, offering the kids all kinds of competitions with great prices for the winners. The prizes were donated by Vetim SA, Ayurveda Centroamericana SA, Chuck WOW Surf, Soleil Soleil shop, Beauty Salon NEVER BETTER and the Plaza Boulevard Vet Clinic. The delicious lunch (for everybody!) was provided by the Escuela Centralin Jacó.

Angela Maria Lozano from Escuelarte Jacó offered an art class for 60 kids while two of the school teachers were painting faces, so in the end we had some cat and butterfly-faced kids all jumping around.

EventWe also had cake and brownies donated by TCBY Jacó, Norma Kahn, Julie Textor, Anna Pilz, Cafe del Mar, Teri Dominey and Douglas Giampapa— some of them were raffled off, and some were offered to all those who helped us organizing this event.

The magazines “Pets y Mas” and “Mucho Gusto” donated by the director Christine Bork, were also offered to the public for a donation of 500 colones. Even though the real focus of this activity was to send a message to both the youngest members of our community as well as their parents, with raising money being more of an “added bonus”, we still raised 27,500 colones ($47.00) from the cake raffle and magazine sale. This money will go toward our next spay day.

The message of this activity was very clear and was repeated in all our presentations, games and competitions: nobody else but the entire community is responsible for the animals, and only the entire community can make Jacó a better place to live for both animals and humans. A huge THANK YOU goes to everybody, who helped us to make this activity such a big success: the Municipality, the director of Escuela Central Vera Alpizar and all teachers participating in the event, Jimmy Alpizar, music teacher who took care of the sound system and provided wonderful music during the breaks, Javier Zuniga Salgado who helped with transportation of all chairs, food and whatever needed to be moved, and all the donors mentioned above and to everybody who was there to share this great adventure with us.


SEPTEMBER 2009

Colegio agosto 2009 Click on the image to see more pictures in a new window.

Our EDUCATION PROGRAM “Sharing the world with the animals” was one huge success — we started at the two main schools in Jacó — Colegio Técnico Profesional (from 7th to the 11th grade) and Escuela Central de Jacó (from Kinder to 6th grade). In the last 3 months, we were able to reach approximatel 600 students, and even more important, we reached them more than once in many different presentations and events. On the Day of the Child we had a presentation and an activity with not only the kids, but also with their parents and the adults who came to school to celebrate with them. The activity ended up in a big competition called “Tell us about your pet”, and from dogs and cats to chickens, all kinds of animals participated in this competition.

Since my first meeting with Cynthia Lizano over 4 months ago, I knew that this program under her supervision would be successful. But even then I didn’t expect the results she shared with me today. She and the teacher from both main schools in Jacó pooled their efforts together and started a wonderful new project involving not only the kids, but also their families. The schools got decorated with animal themes, and the students now consider themselves active members of our association. The parade on the Independence Day showed the students proudly carrying the association’s banner.

Special THANK YOU goes out to the teachers of both schools: Nilsa Bustamante, Alexander Sandoval, Ruth Rojas and Jimmy Alpizar and the school principals Vera Virginia Alpizar and Fernando Pusey — without their cooperation none of these incredible results would have been possible.

Thank you for your time and support.

Katja Bader McKee Jacó


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