Kid's and Cameras

Several years ago HAWS Education Department was given a small grant by the New Berlin Jounior Women's Club to purchase a digital video camera. Our request to them indicated that we planned on using it as an education tool for our summer camp -- and primarily that's what we've been doing with it.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was always looking for new activities for the kids who attended camp so that they wouldn't get bored. Initially we just had the kids make public service announcments about a topic that they had learned at camp. But a few years ago PetFinder.com -- an on-line website that posts animals available for adoption for rescues and shelters, made it possible to post video of adoptable animals. This is of huge benefit, because video many times shows the personality of an animal in a way that a written description or photograph can't.

We started this activity with last year's summer camp -- with several sessions of the older kids. Not only did the kids really enjoy making the videos, it made them feel as though they were helping the shelter and the animals we have here, and even more importantly several of the videos were directly responsible for adoptions!

This year we've already had one session make videos of some of HAWS adoptables. I'm embedding one of them, but you can access the rest on our PhotoBucket account.

I've chosen the video of Tubby -- not because it's better than the others, but because Tubby in in huge need of exposure. A 9-year old lab mix, Tubby has been at the shelter for many months without much interest. If you know anyone who could be Tubby's new people send them to HAWS!