On the road to 'America'
KINGSTON — Their backpacks jingling with spare change found between sofa cushions, saved in piggy banks, and given to them by their parents, students at DJ Bakie Elementary School lined up to empty their donations into a fund that might someday improve life for people living thousands of miles away from this small New Hampshire community.
The change drive stemmed from a newsletter fourth-grade teacher Jo Gargaly sent home with her students, a publication she said that usually prompts little, if any, response.
But the four-page KIND newsletter, put out by the National Association for Humane and Environmental Education, sparked something in 10-year-old Bianca Streep.
Bianca and her mother, Beth Scanlon, read the newsletter together and noticed an article about CHAMPS (Children Against Land Mines). Organized by the nonprofit Marshall Legacy Institute, CHAMPS trains dogs to sniff out land mines in war-torn nations.
The article said that even 25 cents can make a difference. Scanlon and her daughter decided it would be nice if her class could help sponsor a dog.
"So, the next thing I knew, she came home from school and said Ms. Gargaly was looking into it," Scanlon said .
The program began two years ago when school-aged children in Wyoming adopted a dog. Since that time the program has taken off, according to Kimberly McCasland, director of CHAMPS. She hopes to get 20 schools in the country involved to send out 30 dogs in the coming year.
The Belgian shepherd dogs are trained and sent to Bosnia, Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan and Ethiopia.
A second-year teacher, Gargaly admits she was a little skeptical about the project.
"I'm thinking, let me look at it," Gargaly said. "But I had no idea what to expect."
After she made a phone call to the Marshall Legacy to make sure it was legitimate, she discovered 100 percent of the money students raised would go directly toward training dogs.
From there, Gargaly said, "Everything kind of happened at once."
First, Gargaly's class held the school-wide coin drive that raised close to $900. Then, students sat down with pencils and paper. Since letter-writing was part of her fourth-grade curriculum, the second step was for each student to write a letter to a local business, requesting their assistance.
Bianca and her classmates view this as more than part of their curriculum.
"Students can go to school and people can grow crops because of what we're doing, which makes me happy," Bianca said.
Bianca is just part of the core group of eight children and three parents who are working with Gargaly's guidance to reach their $5,000 goal. The group meets once a week to plan further fund-raisers and members have set a goal at an amount they think they can reach, but have not ruled out raising the whole cost if the town supports them.
While it seems like a lot of money, 10-year-old Shane Waters said it costs $20,000 just to train and ship one dog.
"I think it's kind of tricky to train them because they have to learn how to sniff out land mines, which takes a long time," Shane said.
He added that the dogs must be trained to walk in straight lines, which they don't naturally do on their own.
So far the group has collected $1,025.25.
No matter how much more they raise, McCasland said the students can monitor the progress of their dog, which will be named America, from the day it begins training. Dogs typically work six to eight years in the field, so the students will be able to monitor their dog as a class well into high school.
Gargaly said what she thinks really got her classroom started was the tsunami tragedy in Southeast Asia.
During discussions and class activities she said her class was able to realize how many people are affected by disasters and just how long-lasting the effects can be.
"Kids come in with many ideas that go nowhere, but without (Gargaly) saying yes, this would have gone nowhere," Scanlon said. "It's really about the extra hours and encouragement she's given them."
At a recent assembly, Rosa, a dog from CHAMPS, visited the school. McCasland said Rosa, her touring dog, worked in the fields for seven years in six different countries and had covered more than a million and a half meters of land.
McCasland said the children were riveted by her presentation. Some even asked for her autograph when she was done.
"When you bring the dogs and they find out what the dog has done and see how smart and so sweet and loving it is, they really catch on," McCasland said. "These kids really get it and I'm excited for them that they want to be part of it. Looking at their eyes light up is just precious."
McCasland said CHAMPS was not originally going to make a stop in New Hampshire, but Gargaly's class was so excited she made a pit stop after a tour in Massachusetts.
"The kids had such heart involved, I couldn't help it," McCasland said. "I really wanted to meet them."
In fact, McCasland has taken such a liking to the students in Kingston, that out of all the schools that participated in the program, it was Bianca Streep who got to attend the annual CHAMPS gala in Washington, D.C.
This past week Bianca, her mother and her teacher enjoyed a three-day, all-expense paid trip where they were recognized for their work and got to meet CHAMPS dog of the year, Lebanon, and honorary guest Queen Noor of Jordan.
"That they're all by themselves up there and they're
reading about us, studying it, learning it on their own, they really
know their stuff and just touch you," McCasland said. "We honor leadership,
they got it, they get the point and that's something to celebrate."