Youngwood shelter animals bond with young readers during Zoom session
Kids, animals and books were a winning combination for a program at Animal Friends of Westmoreland in Youngwood.
The shelter teamed with teachers and students from Hempfield Area Cyber Academy on Thursday and Friday for a Zoom reading session in conjunction with Read Across America Week, an annual celebration of reading launched in 1998 by the National Education Association.
In addition to giving kids practice at reading aloud, the sessions were intended to introduce them to the possibility of volunteering with the shelter.
“Our founder Candy Valentino and our board of directors wanted a program for the younger kids that are not old enough to volunteer. That is how this idea began,” said Kelli Brisbane, Animal Friends executive director.
Volunteers must be at least 13 to care in-person for cats and 16 to work with the dogs.
For Thursday’s session, Brisbane and volunteer Jeanne Shaffer of Greensburg put a laptop in front of Phoebe, an American bulldog that has been in the shelter since Feb. 21.
Upstairs in the cat room, staff member Brittany Halinka sat on the floor with another laptop as curious felines came and went, sniffed the laptop or curled in her lap for cuddles.
Students from grades 1, 2 and 4 volunteered for reading duties.
“When Kelli came to me with the idea, I jumped on it right away,” said cyber academy teacher Barbara Rebon. “We have quite a few teachers on board and we think it’s a great opportunity for the kids to interact with the different animals. It also gives them an opportunity to read to someone besides me.
“Once we see how this works, we can implement (sessions) more frequently,” she added.
Brisbane said the hope is to have kids read in-person in the shelter, whenever covid restrictions allow.
“We hope to boost the students’ enthusiasm for reading by having them interact with our cats and dogs,” she said.
Following Thursday’s session, students unanimously said they wanted to read to the animals again.
Brisbane gave them time to tell about their own pets and to ask questions about Animal Friends. She told them that the Youngwood shelter at 216 Depot St. houses dogs, cats and rabbits, with current residency at about 18 dogs, 18 cats and a rabbit named Dusty.
She also told them about the organization’s large animal sanctuary in Unity, prompting one reader to exclaim, “We might be reading to a cow!”
While the reading program started with cyber academy students, it is open to others, Brisbane said.
“There has also been interest from Stanwood Elementary School (in the Hempfield Area School District), as well as other parents with children in the community,” she said. “As a result, the Zoom reading program will be incorporated as an ongoing volunteer opportunity for younger children at the adoption center.”
The cyber academy was launched for the 2020-21 year due to the pandemic, to give families of elementary children a choice between full-time online learning or full-time in-person schooling. More than 450 students from Hempfield’s five elementary schools enrolled in the academy.
For information on the reading program or other volunteer opportunities, call Animal Friends at 724-925-2555 or visit animalfriendswestmoreland.org.
Shirley McMarlin is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Shirley by email at smcmarlin@triblive.com or via Twitter .
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