(12/08/09) St. James Parochial Elementary (Duluth, MN)

12/8/09 Outreach Visit to St. James Parochial Elementary School in Duluth, MN

Ever heard of a donkey named Pathfinder? Well the story of that donkey is what brought The WindChill Legacy to the preschool and kindergartner classes at St. James. It just so happened that 2 weeks ago one of the grandparents at our last outreach, mentioned it to the teacher “as a program you have to have.” And it just so happened her classes were reading the book, The Christmas Donkey, by William T. Taylor. The book is about a young donkey that was worked too hard, beaten, and starved by a very mean owner. Joseph saw that the donkey was near death and so he bought him. Joseph fed him, made him well, and tended to his wounds. Pathfinder got fat and happy. He was so proud of his new family and happy to belong to it. He was the one who carried Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem.

The teacher had read the adult and student WindChill Legacy brochures and thought our program would give the children a better understanding of what abuse is and they would relate better to what Pathfinder went through. I met with the teacher and showed her my power point program. She thought it was great but it needed to be shortened a bit due to limited attention spans of these very young children.

Before I committed The Legacy I had to get the ok from Kathi for such a young group.

Here is my email:

St. James Elementary called. They started out wanting a program for 10 preschool and 12 kindergartners. For their Xmas concert they are singing a song about a visit to see baby Jesus by a donkey that has been abused and neglected. The teacher wants them to get a deeper understanding of what the donkey had to go thru. I said I would talk to you about it. I asked if we do it will they sing the song for us and Magic and she said they would. It pulls on your heart strings doesn’t it.

Here is her reply:

like we can say no to that one

So I enthusiastically went back the next day to the teacher and said a joyous yes. I borrowed the book overnight to read The Christmas Donkey. It is a wonderful heartwarming story and to a softy like me, a teary one in a happy way story.

With the ok, I went to work on a power point program that would compare the life of Pathfinder and the life of WindChill. They were both so young, not treated well, and thank goodness Joseph came along to buy Pathfinder, saving his life. WindChill was very young. He was not treated right and thank goodness on a very cold February night a year and a half ago, our ranch was called to rescue him.

I showed some basic pictures of WindChill to get them to understand his needs and how we on the ranch met them. They helped me figure it out with wonderful answers to the questions I asked.

There was a gasp when I told them that WindChill died. (I was worried about that but the teachers said the children could handle it and they did.) One girl shouted out, “He is in horse Heaven now.” Other kids talked about their family pets passing away and how each was in Heaven. I listened to each child that lost an animal (about 12) and offered my condolences.

I went on to the next slide talking about how Pathfinder, the little donkey in their story, was much luckier than WindChill. Joseph got to him before it got so bad. Joseph fed him well, made him healthy, and fixed his wounds. Pathfinder was so proud to belong to his new family.

I talked about how WindChill’s passing was sad but for those 20 days, WindChill got lots of love and attention from his new family. They nodded in agreement. I told them I was here today as a member of WindChill’s family to get them to help other horses like WindChill, and other donkeys like Pathfinder, and other animals who are not being taken care of.

All through the presentation I kept pressing the point about the basic needs for every animal and themselves, food, water, a warm place to live, and love and attention. (left out a few but I had to keep it short and simple)

We went through each of their pets’ needs and how well they were doing meeting their pets’ basic needs. One boy was really angry with his brother for not feeding his turtle. We went through too how their basic needs are being met by the important people in their lives.

I ended the presentation with telling the children that I could not bring WindChill or Pathfinder here to meet them but I did have a special friend of WindChill’s, who also had a very tough life and was not treated well. Thank goodness someone like Joseph saw what was happening and was able to rescue Magic before things got too bad.

We discussed how to show Magic respect as we all disinfected our hands with wipes.

There was a lot of energy in the room during the power point presentation. However the kids were great and so mannerly. They sat so nicely. I cannot explain how exciting it is when I am trying out a new program and you know the kids are with you and you have their interest.

From the time Magic walked into the building, she had an entourage following her.

Gramma Carole did a great job of bringing Magic around to each of the kids. She loves children and really looks forward to doing these outreaches. The kids’ eyes got so big as Magic was brought into the room. Magic entered wearing a Santa hat.

While Gramma Carole was busy with Magic, Trish Poylio did a great job of being patient as the children picked out their favorite color of pens and pencils, magnets and stickers.

The principal stepped into the room to say hi to Magic. He thanked us over and over for doing this program. He touched her star for good luck.

Kathi laughed when several times the kids asked for Magic’s autograph. Kathi told them she had tried once before but it just did not work out.

Other remarks heard were “I just love her.” “What a cutie!”

One boy knew where Magic’ frogs were. We were amazed. He had seen it on a helicopter show. He did not want to touch Magic but he eventually did.

Group pictures were taken with Magic. She stood so still as 5-6 bubbly preschool and kindergartners vied for their space near her. These kids were all over her and front and back hugging her as a team. Magic did not flinch. These kids showed no fear as they stepped into her and around her back end. Magic was remarkable as they invaded her horse space.

The teachers came up to me to tell me how well the presentation went. The children got the message. They like the comparisons of Pathfinder and WindChill. It was just the right length.

Another teacher came up to me to confess how WindChill’s ordeal made her cry just like she cried while reading about Pathfinder. I told her the same thing happened to me too.

Another teacher told me she was glad this was over. Her nerves were a bit frayed from the morning with the kids’ asking over and over, “Is the horse here yet?”, “Is it time yet?”. “Is it afternoon yet?” “When is afternoon?” She said having something so special like this can wear a teacher down.

The grandparent who did such a great PR job for us, was also there. She was excited when her granddaughter showed her the Legacy permission slip she brought home to be signed. Her granddaughter was very excited. The grandparent said the program really connected with the children. She said all kids need to know about WindChill. She was very pleased with what we did. She had the biggest smile on her face as she watched the children learn and share. She walked me out to the entry telling me what a great learning gift The Legacy has brought to these kids. Again she stressed the point that the message is so important.

I was very happy to hear Kathi remark, “I didn’t know kids could be so good.”

As Gramma Carole, Trish, and I were packing up, we saw one of the teachers gather her group of students around her as she began reading one of the donated books that the Legacy leaves behind for the school library. We are able to do this because of a very generous book donation by Deb Moyer. This is one of the highlights of our visits—–to see the look of surprise and the smile of gratefulness. It just adds to the specialness of our program.

We are going back to St. James after the New Year. The preschool teacher had told the rest of the teachers what a great program and materials we had. I went back during their lunch and presented to the rest of the teachers. They agreed. We will be doing all the grades 1-8. That is good because as we were leaving so many students were asking us to come to their classroom. One older student, who you could tell was not supposed to be out and about in the hall, was lying down on the upper stair landing, stretched out, peeking around the banister, to get a better look at Magic.

We finally had to end this visit. I told the kids before we left that Magic had heard that they had a special song about Pathfinder that they were singing for their Christmas concert. Magic would love to hear it. Of course they said ok. They sang the Little Donkey song to her with gusto. Wow you should have seen the look on all our faces. It was an awesome experience and so worth all the extra work for this outreach.