Vet Assistance Payments: We make payments to vets for life threatening treatments. Payments are awarded to rescuers and low-income households by application. Our service area for payments is Tennessee. Creature Care Education Program
Creature Care is a humane education program with a progressive curriculum designed to teach children (Pre K through 2nd grade) on a number of topics – responsible
pet ownership, the life cycle, the role that environment plays in the lives of animals, and the many jobs that animals can have in our community. Through the recognition and appreciation of animals’ needs and feelings, children learn compassion and empathy for animals. In a collaborative effort with educators in Metro schools, the curriculum objectives have been tied to the Metro standards in Science, Social Studies and Health. Lovie’s Legacy is proud of our distinction as the only group approved to bring a live animal into Metro Schools to teach this program. We use certified Pet Partner therapy animals trained locally by Therapy Arc. As Creature Care begins its fourth year, we are transitioning from a classroom based model to a grade level model. Our teams – consisting of an instructor and the Pet Partner animal and handler - will be visiting each grade level of our partnering elementary schools rather than each individual classroom. This will allow us to reach more schools and more children with Creature Care. The program will focus on safety and the prevention of dog bites. Children will learn to read and identify an animal’s body language and predict behaviors. Situations that are potentially dangerous will be presented, and both safe and unsafe behaviors will be demonstrated. The children will be given the opportunity to meet and interact with the visiting Pet Partner and model those safe behaviors. For many of the children we meet, this is their first positive encounter with an animal – and that always makes for a magical moment! Each classroom teacher will receive a lesson plan book containing the curriculum(s), follow up activities and pre/post program assessment tools to use in the classroom with the students. Each student will receive special materials including a bookmark featuring the Pet Partner that visited their school. Every Kindergarten student will receive a copy of the book, Hinckley Goes to School. This book was written by one of our Pet Partner teams and provides the student with a tangible reminder of the program as well as an opportunity to share this message at home. Reinforcing the information with the book and other follow up activities increases the impact and retention rates for the children. We are working on curriculum and activities for the third and fourth grade and hope to introduce those soon!
