The Seacoast Online (New Hampshire) Oct 3, 2008
CHAMPS event is for mine-sniffing dog.
KINGSTON — Get ready to make a difference on the other side of the world with CHAMPS, the Children Against Mines Program, during "Strut Your Mutt" on Saturday, Oct. 18.
The event, which will take place on the Kingston Plains, will help local students raise money to adopt and train a dog to "sniff out" land mines in other countries. Once Sanborn Regional School District students raise $20,000 to fund a dog, an animal will be gifted to a non-governmental organization and assigned to work in a country where mines are an everyday hazard.
Beth Ann Scanlon, a member of the Sanborn Regional School Board and mother to two young CHAMPS members, Bianca and Michaela, has been involved in the program since students in the fourth-grade at the D.J. Bakie School became interested in the cause 3½ years ago. Scanlon said students decided to make a difference after they learned about CHAMPS, a student-run program through the Marshall Legacy Institute, in a classroom publication, Kind News.
Soon after the kids and their teacher decided to get involved, CHAMPS NH was born. Since the initiative began, students have earned enough money to fund a dog, Granite, who is currently sniffing out mines in Bosnia.
In June 2007, Scanlon said she had the opportunity to travel to Sarajevo with her daughter, Bianca, to meet Granite and learn about the work he does to keep people safe.
During their time abroad, mother and daughter also had a chance to meet members of ECHO sports, land-mine survivors who scuba-dive as part of the rehabilitation process.
When people think of landmines, Scanlon noted that they usually think of "Third World countries." Scanlon said her trip with her daughter confirmed that peoples' assumptions about countries with landmines are not true. "Bosnia is not a Third World country," she said. "It's society much like ours ...; Bianca and I were very honored to go to Sarajevo."
According to Scanlon, the kids have also raised money to purchase a prosthetic leg for a young man, Kemal Karic, who lives in a suburb of Sarajevo. Karic lost his leg when he was four months old and his mother, who was holding him, stepped on a land-mine. Though his mother died, Karic has lived for 16 years with a daily reminder of that day. When Karic broke his prosthetic leg playing soccer, the CHAMPS kids were able to step in and gift him enough money to purchase a new one.
Scanlon said students have been in contact wth Karic.
"He sent an e-mail and we send him a care-package ...; it just makes the world smaller," Scanlon said of the personal connections CHAMPS fosters.
When the kids started their work, Scanlon said a person was hurt or killed by a landmine every 22 minutes. Thanks to the efforts of those working to make the world a safer place, Scanlon said that now happens only once every 40 minutes. According to experts' estimates, Scanlon said most mines could be adequately marked by 2018.
"In 10 years, we could have a mine-safe world," she said. "You can accomplish so much in the world if you say, 'Id' like to make a difference.'"
Strut-Your-Mutt is one way for animal lovers to make a difference and help the CHAMPS kids make their goal for a second dog a reality.
Registration for the event begins at 9 a.m. on Oct. 18 on The Plains by the Town Hall on David Bunker Street. The walk, which starts at 10 a.m., will head down toward Kingston State Park and up the other side to Chase field where Scanlon said there will be a "transition station" with water for dogs and food for their human counterparts.
If the 2½-mile walk is too long for some participants, Scanlon said there will be smaller course available.
Doggy demonstrations and presentations by the CHAMPS kids will be on The Plains.
For more information, call Beth Ann Scanlon or visit the CHAMPS Web site at www.champskids.org.