In response to school shootings in Canada and the U.S.A., students from J.C. Charyk Hanna School took it upon themselves to raise money to help support the Therapy Dog program and its outreach in the community. On June 13th, 2018, they presented two visiting teams of Therapy Dog volunteers and their canine companions with a donation of $503.30.

Through their own initiative, grade seven students Emma Moulton, Jade Pahl, Neely Antosh, Tatum McCuaig-Vredegoor, and Elizabeth King researched the positive benefits of therapy dogs on injured or suffering individuals and decided to help raise money to put in a donation to
St John Ambulance’s Therapy Dog program. “After the shooting, we looked up therapy dogs in Alberta,” said Neely Antosh, “and that’s how we found St John.”

Their teacher, Miss Jaime Campbell, encouraged the girls to take action through her leadership class, though they fundraised on their own time and enlisted the help of sponsors, including East Side Auto Body and IGA, an independent grocery store in the town of Hanna.

The students fundraised for an entire month, putting on movie nights at their school theatre and holding concession stands. They also handed out informative pamphlets at school to raise awareness of their cause, as well as information on St John Ambulance’s Therapy Dog program and its outreach in the community.