Partnership Helps Teens, Dogs Put 'Best Paws Forward'
By: Jordan Vandenberge
Updated: December 19, 2012
The partnership stems from a community service class at the EVSC'S Academy for Innovative Studies. The school offers a non-traditional learning environment for students who have had difficulties in their childhood.
And once a week, some of them go on a field trip.
***
Dogs are easy to please. In their eyes, with a little bit of love, you're perfect.
Even when you're not.
"I see the dogs that normally wouldn't interact with people, interact with these kids," Pamela Gibson said.
In the back lot of It Takes a Village Canine Rescue on Stockwell Road in Evansville, it's hard to tell who enjoys it more.
Pamela Gibson doesn't care either way.
"[The students] help me do everything," Gibson said. "They help me clean, they help me clean kennels, they help me clean beds. They clean up cages. The pick up poop. They do do the bad stuff too."
Don't let the wagging tails and smiling faces fool you. These aren't your typical dogs and these aren't your typical students.
"They are very respectful kids," Gibson said. "I'm sure they get a bad name from messing up. We all mess up once or twice. They probably did something they shouldn't have done. That's why they're there. But everybody needs a second chance"
The shelter is a non-profit organization that rescues dogs that are on the verge of being euthanized. It Takes a Village operates solely on donations and the tireless work of volunteers. But once a week for about an hour, nearly a dozen students from the Academy for Innovative Studies build a relationship with dogs that have oftentimes been forgotten.
"Some of them can be mean, some of them can be nice," Dominique Pryor said. "They just got abandoned. I do what I do to help them. Every dog in there has a story."
"Just makes me happy to see that some people care," Alexis Thomas said. "Some people don't, they don't feed them and mistreat them. It hurts my feelings to see them like that."
They may have been kicked out or spent time behind bars. Life has been difficult.
And that goes for the pets and people.
"I think people look at those kids and say they're bad," Gibson said. "You can't categorize them like that, just like the dogs. You can't get a dog out of a shelter and say he's bad. It's not like that."
"We're learning to work as a group, work with each other," Rich Brown said. "I didn't know half these kids in here but we're cool now."
Love for a lesson; it's a perfect exchange between two imperfect creatures.
But if you look closely, it's hard to tell who's helping who.
****
Officials hope to continue the partnership into next semester. For information on It Takes a Village, click here.
And once a week, some of them go on a field trip.
***
Dogs are easy to please. In their eyes, with a little bit of love, you're perfect.
Even when you're not.
"I see the dogs that normally wouldn't interact with people, interact with these kids," Pamela Gibson said.
In the back lot of It Takes a Village Canine Rescue on Stockwell Road in Evansville, it's hard to tell who enjoys it more.
Pamela Gibson doesn't care either way.
"[The students] help me do everything," Gibson said. "They help me clean, they help me clean kennels, they help me clean beds. They clean up cages. The pick up poop. They do do the bad stuff too."
Don't let the wagging tails and smiling faces fool you. These aren't your typical dogs and these aren't your typical students.
"They are very respectful kids," Gibson said. "I'm sure they get a bad name from messing up. We all mess up once or twice. They probably did something they shouldn't have done. That's why they're there. But everybody needs a second chance"
The shelter is a non-profit organization that rescues dogs that are on the verge of being euthanized. It Takes a Village operates solely on donations and the tireless work of volunteers. But once a week for about an hour, nearly a dozen students from the Academy for Innovative Studies build a relationship with dogs that have oftentimes been forgotten.
"Some of them can be mean, some of them can be nice," Dominique Pryor said. "They just got abandoned. I do what I do to help them. Every dog in there has a story."
"Just makes me happy to see that some people care," Alexis Thomas said. "Some people don't, they don't feed them and mistreat them. It hurts my feelings to see them like that."
They may have been kicked out or spent time behind bars. Life has been difficult.
And that goes for the pets and people.
"I think people look at those kids and say they're bad," Gibson said. "You can't categorize them like that, just like the dogs. You can't get a dog out of a shelter and say he's bad. It's not like that."
"We're learning to work as a group, work with each other," Rich Brown said. "I didn't know half these kids in here but we're cool now."
Love for a lesson; it's a perfect exchange between two imperfect creatures.
But if you look closely, it's hard to tell who's helping who.
****
Officials hope to continue the partnership into next semester. For information on It Takes a Village, click here.
