Pies and treats for greyhounds
By Nick Rowe
A group of students from Community College Gippsland (CCG) were delighted last Tuesday to be able to bring joy to some of their favourite animals.
Participants of the Event Management Program for special needs students presented the Greyhound Adoption Program (GAP) with a large donation of treats and toys following a fundraiser organised by the class.
According to CCG chief executive Sue Geals, the students were thrilled to contribute to the program. “With all of our work here at Community College Gippsland, we look for ways to give back to our community with practical projects that we use in our teaching,” Ms. Geals said.
“The students in this pre-accredited program come to us from a range of disability support services.” The classes in the program teach students in building skills needed for life and employment such as communication, planning, numeracy, money and food handling and logistics.
“The fundraising activity gave our students the opportunity to develop and practice their skills with a real-world project that made a real impact. By choosing a not-for-profit program that meant a lot to the students, it was easy to get them fully invested in learning.”
GAP was chosen by the students after they had the opportunity to meet some greyhounds at the annual Great Chase event held by the Warragul Greyhound Club. The students who attended the Great Chase were so taken with the gentle temperament of the dogs that the GAP program quickly won out when the students came to choose which organisation that they would like to raise funds for.
The students decided that their project could support the work of GAP by providing treats and toys to be used when training and rehoming the animals in the adoption program.
To raise funds, the students organised a pie drive and learnt about event management with each step in the process. The drive raised more than $230.
The Greyhound Adoption Program is a nonprofit organisation dedicated to the welfare of greyhounds. Their primary purpose is to educate the public on the benefits and care of greyhounds as companion animals, and to find permanent, loving homes for them.
Warragul Greyhound Club manager Adrian Scott said the community response was fantastic and it was incredibly encouraging to see others fall in love with greyhounds.
Greyhounds that are adopted via the GAP program undergo a thorough temperament assessment to ensure that they are safe around small dogs and that they are suitable to go unmuzzled in public. Most greyhounds that enter the program will undergo a period of foster care prior to adoption.
During the foster period, volunteers located across Victoria offer their homes and time to assist the greyhounds with their transition from the track and life in a kennel environment to living in a family home.