Students in Ken Burke’s “Building Trades”workshop at Carlsbad High School in New Mexico are using their carpentry skills to help local low-income families. As part of the Skills USA program, the students are building doghouses that will provide shelter to dogs who are left outside.
The idea for building the doghouses started four years ago when one of the students received a dog. Upon hearing the news, the class decided to make a doghouse with left over building materials.
Students and faculty liked the doghouse so much that the students created doghouses for other students and faculty members.
It was then that the group decided to build the new puppy a doghouse with the leftover materials, and a few other doghouses for faculty members.
Then Victoria Morse of C-Paws, a local animal rescue, asked Burke if his class would build doghouses for the community. The students have been creating doghouses every year.
Morse tells the Current-Argus News, “It always amazes me how many dogs are left outside with no shelter in extreme weather conditions.”
The doghouses are constructed in a variety of shapes and sizes and stored at C-Paws. The staff at C-Paws work with Noah’s Ark Animal Shelterto help low-income families know about the doghouses. Last year, the students built 30 doghouses.
“I just think that it’s good for the community to know what this class is doing,” Morse says. “It teaches the kids that build the doghouses the importance of giving animals shelter, rather than tying the dog to a pole outside without protection from the weather.”
Source: Current-Argus News
