Rico had a busy two weeks visiting organizations and schools in 3 states giving 5 demonstrations to more than 750 people. He happily received pets and love from more than 450 students.
Rico attended a meeting with the Rotary Club of Mount Airy in Maryland where we met some wonderful people. It was an honor to share information about the humanitarian impact of landmines and to demonstrate Rico's mine detection skills. Thank you to Jayde Kelly for making this visit possible and to all members of the club for welcoming us to your meeting.
Upper School students at Glenelg Country School participated in a presentation about landmine survivors in Yemen and Bosnia-Herzegovina and enjoyed a demonstration of Rico’s sniffing skills. Thank you to JonPaul for organizing this visit as part of his campaign to support landmine survivors.
Rico was a hit at the Glenelg Country School Lower School Read-a-thon. This successful fundraiser was organized and implemented by the CHAMPS club at the school. More than 110 students in kindergarten-5th grade participated in this event and raised enough funds to sponsor a mine detection dog. Each one of the children participating showed Rico love by petting him. Thank you to Jen Cope for making this event possible.
For the second week of Rico’s travels, we met our new friends in Morgantown, West Virginia. After a special luncheon hosted by Nora Sheetz where Rico received much love and some special treats, we headed to St. Francis de Sales School for a presentation and demonstration with their after-school group of 35 students. This group of students were very impressive with their knowledge about the landmine issue and were eagerly engaged during Rico’s demonstration. Thank you to Nora Sheetz for making our visit possible.
Rico then headed to Pittsburgh known as the “The City of Bridges” and “The Steel City” where he toured the waterfront area. Pre-K to 3rd grade students from St. Edmunds Academy enjoyed a presentation about how puppies become mine detection dogs and then attentively watched as Rico sniffed out his training device to show how he uses his nose to sniff the ground in a straight line. Students in 4th-8th grades learned about the humanitarian impact of landmines as well as how hero dogs like Rico sniff out landmines. Rico was spot on with his demonstrations. Following the two appearances, Rico enjoyed a little time receiving pets from the 3-year-olds at the school. Thank you to Kirsten Mahoney for organizing our visit to St. Edmunds Academy.
Thank you to all the students, teachers, administrators, and community members who showed Rico such a warm welcome. The silent cheers were greatly appreciated and of course he loved all the pets he received.