Throughout the summer months, many parents were looking for ways to entertain their children and ensure they maintained a mind equipped for the new school year.
“Puppy c-c-chases his l-l-little vibrating tail,” Kairi Bean sounds out the words in Party Hearty Kitty-Corn as Patuzo closes his eyes for a cat nap.
Felines and Fables. Purrs and Pages. Whiskers and Words. Whatever you may call it, the Humane Society of North Central Florida reintroduced its Purrs & Tales reading program as a way of building children's reading confidence and promoting adoptable cats and kittens in the shelter.
The goal of this program is to help children get more comfortable with reading, understand how to treat animals with compassion and learn about what a shelter is. Event Education and Outreach coordinator Isabella Lentine said, “It's just kind of educating, not only the young, but the whole community, the family as well.” She explained that not many people truly understand what it takes to run a shelter as big as the Humane Society, adding that this program is a great way to share behind the scenes.
After a successful trial run last summer, this has officially become a recurring seasonal program, with a school-year version coming this fall.
The idea took root when three staff members brainstormed it together last year. Lentine, newer to her role, jumped at the chance to bring it back as a permanent program. This time around, the shelter added extra days to make it more accessible to families.
Cats often arrive in litters and can be grouped together more easily, making the cat rooms a great way to begin the program. The team hopes to eventually include dogs once future renovations make the kennels safe to host children among them.
The program has been such a hit, veteran James Nettles said, that he has brought several of his friends over the last few weeks to accompany him and his step-daughter daughter Leticia Gonzalez. Nettles said she has never had difficulty reading before. She simply enjoys spending time with the cats.
For Nettles, however, this program means a lot.
Having struggled with reading himself growing up, Nettles said this program will help kids “be more more adventurous in pronouncing out words and stuff like that,” he said, “If there's nobody to judge them.”
In addition to helping kids and promoting the shelter, the hands-on interaction helps better prepare kittens for adoption. Kids are able to practice their reading in a low-pressure setting, while simultaneously socializing cats and getting them used to noise and movement. Lentine said this makes all the difference between a cat that's labeled “not good with kids" on an adoption page and one that finds a home.
Ten-year-old Evie Bean went to the shelter for the first time. The first time she saw one of the cats, with no hesitation, she pleaded “Can I adopt you?”
Bean said she doesn’t get nervous much reading at school, but is able to engage herself more while spending time here. Bean hopes her mom can make this a regular trip.
“If she isn’t letting me,” she said, “I will ask my grandma to take me.”
Purrs & Tales aims to have kids who leave wanting to come back, whether to read again, foster a cat one day, or simply understand what goes on behind shelter doors. With new education programming on the horizon and spots open for ages 4 through college, the shelter is hoping more families take notice.
Summer reading may not be something all kids look forward to, but combine that with purrs and pets, and kids will be asking for their next book. The program runs through 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. for some summer reading fun.