April 16, 2010, Mike Taylor
Texasthe woodlands villager
"Laps for Lives"
TWHS students raise money to sponsor land mine detection dog
The powerful and potentially debilitating — or deadly — blast of a land mine is not something germane to The Woodlands.
But after a visit by a land mine detection dog to The Woodlands High School earlier this year, students are ready to help those who are affected by the mines.
Laps for Lives, set for April 24 from 9 a.m. to noon at The Woodlands High School bus circle, will raise money to fund a land mine detection dog from the Marshall Legacy Institute, which sponsors the dogs’ training and work in countries in need.
“The kids are real excited about it and that’s what it’s all about,” said Susan Hollier, faculty advisor for the school’s Council for International Affairs, which is co-sponsoring the event with the Interact Club. “We not only want to show them how great they have it here in The Woodlands, but that the more you have the more you need to do for other people.”
Mine detection dogs are vital to countries paralyzed by the devices. In one day, a human can search 50 square meters of land suspected of mine contamination, but a mine detection dog team can search up to 1,500 square meters in the same time period, according to the MLI.
“One dog will save 10,000 lives, which is a pretty amazing statistic,” Hollier said.
In the last 12 years, the Institute has provided 142 mine detection dogs to 10 different countries including Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and Nicaragua. In all, more than 900 mine detection dogs work in 28 countries around the world.
On Feb. 23, mine detection dog Utsi visited TWHS for a demonstration with handler and Children Against Mines Program Director Kimberly McCasland. CHAMPS is an educational outreach program that informs students about land mines and fosters global citizenship by encouraging them to help others in mine-affected countries, according to the MLI.
Laps for Lives aims to bring in the $20,000 it takes to sponsor a mine detection dog. Groups who sponsor a dog get to name the animal and visit the country where the dog does its work.
One student who shows an exceptional interest in the project will be selected by the MLI to visit the dog — in Bosnia, most likely — sponsored by TWHS.
“It’s a good incentive and a perfect opportunity for students to really see another side of the world,” Hollier said. “There’s not a place here in The Woodlands that is cordoned off because we’re going to get blown up if we go there.”
Registration for Laps for Lives costs $10 per person or $30 per family. Attendees and their dogs will walk around the school’s bus circle and collect a raffle ticket for each completed lap.
There will be a dog dress-up contest and pet trick contest, each with an entry fee of $5. There will also be live music, face painting, a cupcake walk and other food available for donations. Dogs are welcome but not required.
Additionally, every entry in a pre-high school poster contest will be displayed at the event, and a first- and second-place prize will be awarded to two students from each of the participating elementary, intermediate and junior high schools.
A typical mine detection dog searches nearly 1.5 million square meters of land in its average working life of six to eight years, according to the MLI. The dogs are Belgian Malinois from the Netherlands, and they are trained in Somerset, which is southwest of San Antonio.
The MLI has established mine dog detection programs in Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Eritrea, Iraq, Lebanon, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka and Thailand. The U.S. Department of State matches private funds to train local handlers and provide essential infrastructure so countries can help themselves in freeing their land of mines, according to the MLI.
“The kids are really enthused about it because they’ll be able to help someone beyond who they can see,” Hollier said.
The Marshall Legacy Institute is a Virginia-based, nonprofit, humanitarian organization formed in the 50th anniversary year of the Marshall plan, 1997, to extend the vision of Nobel Peace Laureate George C. Marshall to address 21st century problems by providing war-torn, land mine-affected countries with tools and training needed to help rebuild, alleviate suffering and promote hope, growth and stability.
For more information about the MLI, visit www.marshall-legacy.org.
For more information about Laps for Lives, visit www.thewoodlandscia.com.
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