BREAKING NEWS: Queenie

TURNING COMPASSION INTO LOVING ACTION. Recently Project Give awarded the Boys & Girls Club in LA's Compton district a special grant. The kids were able to choose how to spend their funds. It was unanimous, PAWS would receive a generous donation from the children on their next visit. Project One Song then generously matched the children's gift. Everyone at PAWS agrees, we are genuinely touched by this unselfish, special gift from the children.

Recipe For A Perfect Day

It was a gorgeous, sundrenched spring day in the Sierra Gold Country with wildflowers bursting in full bloom and the hillsides at ARK 2000 were luscious and green.

Take it from Annie and Mara and the other girls, it was a picture-perfect day and a great time to host a very special Earth Week visit with a group of young "at risk youth" from the Los Angeles' Compton Boys and Girls Club.

The Project OneSong program is based on the undeniable link between animal cruelty & human violence in our society. Project OneSong teaches young people how to develop empathy and compassion for animals and others as an alternative to violence.

Most of the children in the Project OneSong program come from difficult and challenging environments.

By visiting PAWS and spending time with Pat Derby and Ed Stewart, the children witness first-hand Pat and Ed's unwavering demonstration of kindness, patience and unconditional love toward the animals. The children explore new ways of thinking about their own world and ultimately they learn how to think about themselves more compassionately.

The unique experience at PAWS benefits the children by boosting their self-esteem and personal confidence and by showing them a more productive and kinder lifestyle. It benefits the animals too. By educating our young people to the suffering of wildlife in captive situations, it opens their minds to the concept of wildlife conservation and environmental preservation. These are key topics that children need to understand in order to make their own world a more positive place in which to live, grow, and to become positive contributors to our society.

After one elephant experience, a child remarked that he felt that the elephants represented him. He saw the elephant as majestic and powerful and was able to relate those positive attributes to humans who unlock their potential - and he was finally able to relate those positive attributes to himself. Another child exclaimed that "animals have best friends," one mentioned that "animals are just like humans - they need respect too," and still another child added that she learned that animals weren't things, but that they were living beings with feelings and families.

With Southwest Airlines as a charter sponsor, the children fly in to the Sacramento Airport where their chaperones rent vans and drive to ARK 2000.

The recent Project One Song visit on April 24th included helping Pat and Ed with elephant foot soaks. Of course, these pachy pedicures were a big hit with both the kids and the elephants. The children then learned more about PAWS' rescued tigers.