Click here to see the latest news on the Education Program McKee-Jacó Education Program May 2009: Introducing our educational program,
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. Funds needed in order to start the education project
Funds needed in order to continue the education project
Latest News What’s new at the Education Program? 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.
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 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.
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
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:
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
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.
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 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
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! 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 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.
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:
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.
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. 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. 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. SEPTEMBER 2009
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
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It’s not always cruelty — mostly they just don’t know any better. This is why EDUCATION is so vitally important.
Our 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: 
Jacó – the community responsible for its animals
We 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.
