Second Graders Draw Pictures Of Shelter Dogs To Help Them Get Adopted
"They were so cute, and you could tell that the kids put a lot of work into them.”
Norah Wimer, a volunteer at Adoption First Animal Rescue in Jacksonville, North Carolina, was trying to brainstorm ways to help some of the dogs at the rescue find their forever homes a little faster. She saw an article about a project where a class of kids helped find homes for shelter dogs, and immediately she was inspired.
Wimer asked her son’s teacher if the second-grade class would want to write bios for some of the dogs at the rescue to help them find homes. As soon as the kids heard about the project, they were so excited that their words and pictures might actually make a difference for a dog in need. The kids were each allowed to pick which dogs they wanted to write about, and a lot of them gravitated towards the dogs with disabilities because they wanted to show people how wonderful they are despite their differences. Each bio consisted of a short write-up and a drawing, and the kids worked so hard to showcase each dog’s unique personality.
Once the bios were all completed, the teacher sent them to Wimer, who was pretty floored — the whole project had worked out even better than she could have imagined.
“I was beyond impressed when I read the bios,” Wimer told The Dodo. “They were so cute, and you could tell that the kids put a lot of work into them.”
Some of the bios were sweet, some were funny, and all of them were unique and really gave some personality to the dogs, who were eagerly waiting to be adopted.
“My favorite has to be Alfie’s,” Wimer said. “The student wrote, ‘At first I will be kind of nervous when we get to my new home, so I might need some space to look around the place. I think I am pretty but I don’t know I am a dog, I can’t use a mirror.’”
The bios are currently being displayed on the rescue’s Facebook and TikTok pages — and have already made a difference in the lives of the dogs they feature.
“They have sparked interest,” Wimer said. “Baylor, Tink, Kevin and Tygra have been adopted. Silco and Alfie are on trial (our rescue allows potential adopters to take adult dogs home for a weeklong trial to see if they are a good fit).”
When Wimer first floated the idea, she had no idea how it would turn out. In the end, it brought joy to a whole class of kids and helped dogs in need find homes, which definitely all adds up to a huge success.
