Rescued Romanian dog inspired primary students to help others

Pupils at District CE Primary School in Newton-le-Willows pulled out Romania in the Eurovision sweepstakes, and due to this they decided to research charities linked with the country, and found one close to teacher Rachel Pearson’s heart.

Flik (Image: District CE Primary)

Rachel has a dog Flik who was rescued from a public shelter in Romania by charity Pawprints to Freedom back in 2020, after learning about what she had to overcome, they decided to help raise funds for the charity to rescue two more dogs.

Pawprints to Freedom is a team of volunteers working tirelessly to prevent suffering and help dogs in awful circumstances, operating primarily in Romania, saving dogs from kill shelters and other horrific situations, before finding them forever homes in the UK.

Posters for the charity by students (Image: District CE Primary)

Gemma Davies, a Year 4 class teacher, said: “My class decided to support Pawprints to Freedom after partaking in a project with the LFC Foundation #iWill over this last half-term. “The project focuses on empowering children to identify, prioritise and tackle issues that they feel really strongly about.

“Prior to starting this, we had already looked into Pawprints to Freedom when we pulled out Romania in our school Eurovision sweepstakes.

Posters by the students (Image: District CE Primary)

“Instead of looking at the country as a whole, we decided to try and make a personal link between the country and our school community, which was really easy for us.

“One of our teachers and her husband adopted their lovely dog, Flik, from Pawprints back in 2020.

“We decided to look into Flik's journey and where she came from and how her life is so much better now she is in her forever home.

Posters by students (Image: District CE Primary)

“The children were so enthralled and inspired by all the work that the charity do to help rescue Romanian dogs and continued to talk about Pawprints, and Flik, for many months after Eurovision.

“Therefore, when the children could choose which issue to tackle as part of their #iWill project, they decided to prioritise animal cruelty and raise awareness about Pawprints to Freedom and all the work that they do.”

The children took part in a sponsored run, created posters about Flik and made t-shirts telling her story which they wore during their run.

Students in their decorated tshirts (Image: District CE Primary)

Gemma added: “We finished our project last Thursday and the children had initially planned to run a mile, however many of them ended up running more than two miles as they were doing constant laps of our school field.

“The children raised a whopping £445 for Pawprints in support of all the incredible work that they do and have loved being able to help some of their dogs.

“They've loved being able to name one rescue dog Skye and raise enough money to pay for two tickets on the Happy Bus for two more dogs to be able to come to the UK and hopefully to their forever homes.

“We are so proud of the children and their efforts with this. The children have loved learning all about Pawprints, they think they are absolutely incredible”

Victoria Pombeiro from Pawprints to Freedom, added: “We are blown away with the effort made by the children, they should be very proud of themselves and how proud they have made their school.

“In addition to sponsoring two Romanian puppies, Year 4 were also asked to name an elderly dog that has been offered a new home after spending seven years in a Romanian public shelter.

“They have chosen to call her Skye and will be following the progress of all three dogs as they board the Happy Bus – Pawprints to Freedom’s overground transport system – on route to new lives in the UK.”

Pawprints to Freedom is currently raising money to purchase its own land and kennels in Romania to help more dogs like Flik and Skye.

To help the charity with its mission, visit pawprints2freedom.co.uk/donate