The MC Knoll girls’ and boys’ basketball teams have teamed up with the Yorkton S.P.C.A. to launch a new campaign called Hoops and Paws.
Their goal is to raise awareness around Yorkton about the S.P.C.A.
Mark Schendel is both the boys’ basketball coach and a teacher at the school, and he put the campaign together.
“I know there’s a lot of life skills to be taught in basketball,” he said. “In addition to all of the skills, they’re also learning about being good community individuals.”
“There’s no age restriction when it comes to being a community advocate.”
The Hoops and Paws campaign has the basketball players doing a number of things to raise awareness.
First, they designed warm up t-shirts that they wear before each game, home and away, and sometimes as part of their regular clothing.
“We’re constantly creating an awareness in our building, but I also look at it as raising awareness when we play other teams in their schools. We’ve got moms and dads in those buildings seeing that we’re creating that awareness of the local S.P.C.A and why it’s important,” said Schendel.
In addition to the shirts, the kids also hand-delivered S.P.C.A pamphlets to homes around the MC Knoll community.
“There might be some people in our community who aren’t aware of the animals shelter. This is going to create that awareness and ultimately, what I’d like to see, is some of these people contribute,” said Schendel. “Whether it’s going and helping out, or maybe take their dogs for a walk, or making a financial contribution.”
“They’re struggling sometimes for resources there,” said Schendel.
Each year, Schendel said he uses sports as a platform to encourage good community behavior. In the past, they’ve had projects supporting breast cancer, ALS, the local soup haven and the Canadian Diabetes Association.
“This has been going on now for several years. It just worked out now that we decided to target the local S.P.C.A and they’re part of our team this year,” said Schendel. He also added that one of the easy sells with this campaign in particular was the obvious – kids love animals.
“So many of our kids are pet owners,” he said. “For some of our families, I know that they did get that dog or cat at the Yorkton S.P.C.A. That makes it extra special for them,” he said. “They’ve been very involved and very excited about this project.”
Joan Kobylko is the manager at the Yorkton S.P.C.A. She said that raising awareness is vitally important to their shelter.
“Teaching animal welfare and humane education is so important, and there’s not nearly enough of it,” said Kobylko.
“It’s a project that should be ongoing in every school,” she said. “It is important to get them when they’re young and teach them the importance of this.”
