Animal Advocates Focus on Educating Kids and Teachers

Michael feeds Daisy another apple and she loved them.

Silverton, March 7th, 2013. Humane Education Advocates Reaching Teachers (HEART) is a national nonprofit which opened up a Portland office about a year ago. Since then, it’s been reaching out to kids and teachers and coordinating activities like this farm field trip for Meek Professional Technical High School students, many of whom had never been to a farm. The trip was the collaborative effort of HEART and the Green Acres Farm Sanctuary.

Gioia spends some time with the goats.

At the Green Acres Farm Sanctuary students met animals like Daisy, a 6- year-old POA Quarter horse mare and Nash, a 23-year-old Arabian gelding. The two were displaced as a result of a domestic violence situation.

Nailah is one of the students who benefits. The mission of HEART is to foster compassion and respect for all living beings and the environment by educating youth and teachers in Humane Education.

One of the students, Adam, remarked that this was the best field trip he had ever experienced. He was happy these animals could live free from harm at Green Acres and that he could be away from the hum of electricity and constant noise of the city.

Local Director HEART, Dani Dennenberg explained, “I have no doubt that the hearts and minds of these 15 young people were opened in a way that may have never happened without this trip. We are so grateful to the generosity America Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) whose grant made this trip possible.”

Launched in New York in 2001, the Humane Education Advocates Reaching Teachers (HEART) program includes:

Humane Living Program An integrated character and humane education instructional program for students of all ages.
Teacher Training Professional workshops and classroom presentations that introduce humane and character education to teachers and provide them with the tools to implement this instruction in daily classroom lessons.
Humane Education Consulting Individual guidance and instruction to administrators and teachers on how humane education can be infused into school curricula.
Advocacy Raising awareness about and securing support for humane education in the educational and governmental sectors.

For more information about the program click this link: Humane Education Advocates Reaching Teachers (HEART)

Elisa Klein

I’ve been a professional journalist and writer since 1987, (and long-time reporter for KOIN-TV.) As a nationally published reporter, with a Master’s Degree in Journalism, I love to report positive news and information. Journalism has also connected me with another non-profit where I served as a leader; the Northwest’s biggest writer’s organization: The Willamette Writers.