The 13-17 year old Roots & Shoots group at Roger Williams Park Zoo was inspired when they learned that October was National Pit Bull Awareness Month. To celebrate, they wanted to create a project that would help a local pit bull rescue group and educate their communities on the stereotypes that surround this misunderstood breed.
The Pit Bull Awareness Campaign is a project with two goals. The first goal is to help out a local pit bull rescue group, and they chose Handsome Dan's Rescue which is based here in Rhode Island (http://www.handsomedansrescue.org). After looking at their Amazon Wish-List for needed items, each Roots & Shoots member created and set-up a collection box in their community so they could gather donations for Handsome Dan's Rescue. The second goal of the project is to educate their communities on pit bulls and the stereotypes that surround this misunderstood breed. To achieve this, the members created a survey link and posted it above donation boxes. The survey would allow people to safely submit their email address in return for educational information on pit bulls. Now the Roots & Shoots members are working on creating an engaging, informative and creative educational piece to send out!
